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Catching up With … Steve Poapst

By Alex Clark
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For one of Colgate’s own, the future is now brighter but no less uncertain.

The Philadelphia Flyers selected sophomore defenseman Joey Mormina with the 193rd pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, making him the highest drafted Raider since Bruce Gardiner was picked by the St. Louis Blues 11 years ago. Voices from Colgate’s past will tell of just how far Mormina still has left to go.

Being drafted will not ensure Mormina of playing in the NHL, much less of having his name mentioned in the same breath with other ECAC alumni such as John LeClair, Adam Oates and Joe Nieuwendyk. Colgate graduate Steve Poapst of the Chicago Blackhawks has shown that the road from this small, liberal arts school to the world’s top level of hockey is not one taken with ease.

Entering the season, former Colgate standout Steve Poapst has 14 points in 117 career NHL games with Washington and Chicago.

Entering the season, former Colgate standout Steve Poapst has 14 points in 117 career NHL games with Washington and Chicago.

Poapst flew around the ice at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensonville, Ill., last month as he prepared himself for the upcoming season with the Blackhawks at the team’s voluntary practice. He looked at ease as he broke up a pass between Theo Fleury and Eric Daze, his opponents during a four-on-four scrimmage.

“It’s definitely intimidating to sit in a locker room with quality players like Alex Zhamnov,” said Poapst after the practice. “When you first get to this level you ask yourself questions like ‘Should I be here?’ and ‘Can I play with these guys?’ It’s a definite adjustment, no matter what level you are coming from.”

Like Mormina, Poapst was a defenseman for the Raiders, and a successful one at that. A member of the only Colgate team to capture the ECAC title in 1990, he compiled 61 points and 157 penalty minutes in four years and 132 games with the Raiders. Poapst was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team in 1988 and was an All-ECAC Honorable Mention during his senior year in 1991.

Unlike Mormina, however, Poapst was never drafted by an NHL team. Following his graduation, he failed as a walk-on for the Vancouver Canucks, and packed his bags for the East Coast League and the Hampton Roads Admirals.

"If you play one game below your capability, chances are you aren’t going to stick around. You have to play that way every day, even in practice."

— Steve Poapst

After years of paying his dues and improving his play, Poapst finally broke through with the Washington Capitals late in the 1995-96 season. In his first career game, he filled in for an injured regular and scored the game-winning goal against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. He had officially made his mark on the NHL.

Poapst is not the only Raider to fight his way to the professional level as an undrafted free agent. While Gardiner was drafted, he was left unsigned and subsequently picked up as a free agent. He scored 66 points in 239 games played with the Ottawa Senators, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the New Jersey Devils. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim signed Andy McDonald only two years ago, and he has amassed 29 points in only 69 games played, an achievement that led to his placement on the top line alongside All-Star Paul Kariya.

The struggle to remain in the league continued long after Poapst’s first game, however. He bounced between the NHL and the American Hockey League before finally finding a home in Chicago. Through 117 games, he accumulated 14 points and 50 penalty minutes. Poapst is now a reliable defender on the Blackhawks bench and proves to himself and his coaches that he deserves to play with the best.

Now a 33-year-old veteran at every level of professional hockey, Poapst attributes his final immergence in the NHL to his constant hard work and concentration on the basics, disciplines he learned as a youth in Cornwall, Ontario and that were expounded upon when he came to Colgate.

“At this level you have to play consistently,” said Poapst. “If you play one game below your capability, chances are you aren’t going to stick around. You have to play that way every day, even in practice.”

Both Poapst and Mormina make their mark as stay-at-home defensemen. This means that while neither score a lot of points, they both play important roles on their teams. Poapst believes that recognizing this role is essential for success.

“To be a stay-at-home defenseman in the NHL, you can’t do stuff outside of where your capabilities lie,” he said. “You have to know your position so you don’t get beat, and you have to clear pucks away from the front of the net. Just make a first good pass and don’t get yourself in trouble or in a position you don’t want to be in.”

Mormina has one advantage over Poapst: size. Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 220 pounds, Mormina possesses the makings of a dominant force on the ice. As Poapst proves, however, size isn’t all that counts at the NHL level. Despite his short, six foot stature, the Colgate grad continues to earn trust from Blackhawk coaches and players with his positioning skills.

“At that height he should have an advantage,” said Poapst of Mormina, “as he’ll be able to move people out from in front of the net with his size, if he plays that way. In my case I rely on being in the proper position, taking the puck away, and not losing any battles. And for the last couple of years my assignment has been to shut down the top players on the other team, which has been challenging and fun.”

Now in the waning years of his career, Poapst still finds himself fighting to remain at the top level of play. To be the best, he stresses focus on fundamentals, personal growth, and steady play. He believes these will be the best tools for Mormina as he tries to make his way in professional hockey.

“You should always work on your basic skills,” he said. “Whatever drill you’re doing you should do it to the best of your ability. Play each practice like you would in a game. Make sure all passes are on, all your shots hit the net, and always work on your skating. It’s easy to take the easy way sometimes, and it’s hard to do things the proper way. It takes work to get better, and that comes from practice and learning the game.”

Mormina’s attention won’t be on the NHL this fall. He will be just another member of a team trying to bring glory back to Colgate, just as Poapst did over 10 years ago. With commitment and an understanding of his own strengths, however, Mormina could not only follow in the footsteps of Gardiner, McDonald and Poapst, but see his name among the greats to emerge from the ECAC.

This Week in Division III: Oct. 31, 2002

By
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The D-III season is off to its usual slow start, with just 21 games played during the first two weeks. Things begin in earnest this coming weekend, as league play begins in the NCHA, MICA and SUNYAC.

The ECAC Northeast will begin play next week, but we’re still two full weeks away from the season openers for NESCAC and ECAC East teams.

That leaves D-III followers (including me) with a lot of time on their hands, so the USCHO.com Division III poll is fodder for analysis and opinion.

Change is Good?

There’s been a lot of discussion about the poll, more than any other season at this point. Some of that of is due to the changes in the format for this season. In the past, USCHO issued a Division III preseason Top 10 Poll in mid-October and didn’t start the regular weekly polls until the end of November, when all teams had played at least two or three games.

This season, to bring it in line with the Division I poll, the Division III poll expanded from a Top 10 to a Top 15, and weekly polls began the week after the preseason poll.

The response has been generally positive, but there has been a lot of discussion about “watering down” the poll by expanding by 50%, as well as the merits of starting a month before some teams begin play. There’s a concern that teams who begin play early in the season and get off to fast starts will be entrenched in the top 15 (more on this later).

These issues were enough to cause one of the coaches who has voted in the poll since its inception to resign from the panel.

Still, the poll is serving its purpose. People are talking about it, which is the main goal. It is, after all, just the aggregate opinions of 15 people. More schools get to be included, and USCHO gets to be mentioned more often in the media.

Poll Psychology

As someone who has helped compile the poll for the past several seasons, I obviously follow it closely from week to week. Based on the many comments on the USCHO message board, it’s clear that I’m not the only one.

One major topic for discussion so far has been how defending champ Wisconsin-Superior has fared through the first three polls. The Yellowjackets were a very close second to top-ranked Norwich in the preseason poll, which certainly raised some eyebrows. This is not unprecedented, however.

The 2000-2001 USCHO preseason poll had Plattsburgh at number one, even though Norwich had won the title the season before. In turn, the Cadets were at the top of the 1999-2000 preseason poll after Middlebury had won the title in 1998-1999. Interestingly enough, both teams that were picked to finish first did just that, with Norwich winning the NCAA championship in 2000 and Plattsburgh bringing home the trophy in 2001.

Wisconsin-Superior had more first-place votes than Norwich in the 2002-2003 preseason poll (seven to five) but was selected as low as fifth on some ballots. It seems clear that there were two schools of thought at work. One says that the defending champions start the next season as number one and stay that way until they lose. The other looks at what the teams have returning, incoming players, etc. The Yellowjackets lost several key players on the blueline, while the Cadets return essentially intact.

Things got even more interesting the next week, when Superior lost two first-place votes without yet playing a game. Norwich went from five to eight first-place votes and solidified its hold on first.

What’s up with that? Poll psychology 101 says that once a team is in the poll, it stays in position unless it loses. Two voters switched and put Norwich first on their ballots because that’s where it had been the week before, and the Cadets had not lost (they don’t even start NCAA play until 11/22). They changed their mind and went with the crowd.

Poll psychology kept Elmira in the Top 15, even thought the Soaring Eagles opened the season 0-2 with a pair of losses at St. Norbert, one a blowout. Potsdam is 3-0 but had yet to make the poll, getting votes for the first time last week. How can an 0-2 team be ranked higher than a 3-0 team? Elmira went into those games tied for eighth and fell four places to 12th, but it will take a loss this weekend to Oswego to drop the Soaring Eagles completely out. A loss to a good team is typically worth 2-3 places, an upset to a weaker team even more. Oswego dropped from 12th to out of the running after losing its opener at Utica.

Teams that win stay in place or move up to take the spots of teams falling due to losses. Manhattanville went from 13th to 11th without playing a game thanks to losses by Elmira and Oswego.

On the other hand, breaking into the poll in the first place requires an impressive string of wins. Potsdam is poised for that — defeat RIT at home this Saturday and I guarantee that the Bears will crack the Top 15. If the Bears lose, they will have to put another string together and hope for some losses by teams in the poll.

That was the concern voiced to me by several people, including the coach that resigned from the poll — that once teams are in the poll they tend to stay there, and its hard for other teams to get noticed. Teams from conferences like the NESCAC and ECAC East that start later may take a while to work themselves into the poll.

This is true to some degree, but there are currently four teams from these leagues in the Top 15 and another five were mentioned on at least one ballot, so it’s not like they’re being shut out for not having played any games yet.

Time will tell if having a Top 15 makes this situation better or worse. Like many D-III fans, I will be watching closely.

Not Even the 15 Second Rule Helped Here

Wisconsin-Eau Claire visited RIT for a pair of games last weekend, and folks at Ritter Arena saw less than stellar hockey. The Blugolds hung with the Tigers for the first period of game one, but then the wheels came off. RIT scored eight unanswered goals and won 9-1.

Not a great game to watch, but at last it was fairly well played and officiated. The same could not be said of the second night, an 11-2 RIT win that goes down in my books as one of the worst games I have ever seen.

I’ve seen some real winners: blowouts of epic proportions (RIT 24, Neumann 0 on 2/8/2002) and “Slap Shot” style goonfests (RIT 7, Ryerson 2 on 1/8/1994 — stopped in the third period due to excessive violence, including Ryerson players shooting pucks into the crowd with the intent to injure spectators), but this one ranks right up there due to some of the most bizarre officiating you’ll see anywhere..

The two teams were called for a total of 122 penalty minutes, even thought there was little rough stuff. Seventy of those minutes were attributed to bench minors and misconducts. Referee Joel Morawski’s calls on Wisconsin-Eau Claire bordered on vindictive — a bench minor for arriving for warm-ups too late, another for arriving for the second period too early, a third for trying to change after their five seconds was up.

Everything was called by the book and to the letter, most likely because NCAA Rules Committee member Paul Duffy was in the crowd, clipboard in hand. Other calls included the first appearance of new rule 3-5-c, which prohibits the wearing of jewelry. Jewelry? RIT’s Mike Bournazakis was given a double misconduct, one for having words with UWEC’s Matt Plummer, and a second for wearing a necklace while doing so.

Ticky-tack calls like this resulted in two hours and 28 minutes of uninspired hockey.

“Is it finally over?” asked RIT head coach Wayne Wilson in his post-game interview. “I wanted a chair.”

RIT was nine for 14 on the power play; Wisconsin-Eau Claire was one for 10.

“I support the referees,” Wilson told USCHO. “But I apologized to [Eau Claire] coach [Jean-Francois] Laforest after the game. There were better ways to end this game, instead of calling those kinds of penalties.”

Laforest didn’t return calls asking for a comment on what must have seemed a persecution. One penalty for coming out too late; another for coming out too early. One of my favorite moments was watching Blugold goalie Scott Sutton playing the hokey pokey at the rink door before the third period, repeatedly putting his left foot on the ice, then taking it off, all the while looking at the referee for approval. Sutton lasted until midway in the third before finally letting his frustrations show and getting the fourth misconduct of the game handed out by Morawski.

The final total: 26 minors, two majors, four misconducts, one game misconduct, one game disqualification. One miserable game of hockey.

One of the dumbest things I have ever heard said about officiating in any sport is that it “doesn’t affect the outcome of the game.” Of course it does. It always does. If it didn’t, why do we need officials in the first place? Play without them. This is an example of a game that would have been completely different if called a different way. Would RIT still have won? Probably. But the game would have been a better experience for players and fans if the officials had used some common sense.

Instead, it was trick or treat, a few days early.

This Week in the ECAC West: Oct. 31, 2002

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The season is off to a rip-roaring start as October comes to an end. All five ECAC West teams have seen action, and the freshmen are stepping to the forefront already. The impact of the 2002 recruiting class has been quickly felt across the ECAC West. All of the teams have seen freshmen stand out in their first contests, which bodes well for the future of league.

Freshman Phenoms — Part 1

In both games of its two-game road trip to St. Norbert, Elmira started freshmen goaltenders. Greg Fargo played a solid game in the Friday 6-2 loss. He stopped 26 of 32 shots, but that statistic is a little misleading because of the way the last three goals were scored. The fourth goal was a 5-on-3 against Elmira. The fifth was a 5-on-4 deficit, and the sixth was an empty-netter. Take away those three tallies and Fargo had a solid outing.

“Friday we played pretty well,” said Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski. “[Fargo] played very well. We saw a lot of good things except for the last five minutes. We lost our composure for 30 seconds and it cost us the game. Obviously you can’t do that.”

Ceglarski gave his other freshman goalie, Billy Owczarczak, a go on Saturday. The Elmira defense didn’t play well in front of Owczarczak, and he had a tough outing letting in five goals in a period and a half of play before being pulled.

“He did well, but our guys did a very poor job in our zone,” said Ceglarski. “We did a very poor job of being composed. We were running around the ice and got out of our game. We didn’t have much composure, and got our ears pinned back pretty well.”

At this early stage of the season, it appears that Fargo has taken control of the goaltender position for the Soaring Eagles.

“Greg Fargo has clearly taken over the leadership role as our starting goaltender,” said Ceglarski. “He has told me that the level of intensity in DIII is a lot higher because we play fewer games. He knew how much pressure was on from the first game of the year.”

Freshman Phenoms — Part 2

Utica’s freshmen are also making an impact right from the start. One of the weaknesses of the Pioneers team last season was an anemic power play. Coach Gary Heenan recruited some snipers to try and fill that hole, and it appears to be paying early dividends.

The all-freshman line of Trent Flory, Pat Caslin, and Mark Juliano has been lighting up the scoreboard in Utica’s two games so far. This line accounts for five of the ten goals that Utica has scored this season, including both power-play goals.

“They’re fun to watch,” said Heenan. “It’s a fun line and they all have skill. The guys we brought into score goals are scoring goals. Every freshman that we brought in is involved in the power play.”

Utica is off to a high-scoring start this year in two games against top SUNYAC opponents. The Pioneers lost a close 6-5 affair against Potsdam. But they rebounded to trounce Oswego 5-2, riding two power-play goals and a shorthander to victory.

Heenan was happy to see the offensive production of his team this early in the season.

“The offense was a big positive from the coaching staff’s view,” said Heenan. “I think we only put up five [goals] against four opponents last year. So to put five up against quality teams like Potsdam and Oswego, we were excited.”

But he wasn’t very pleased with the style of hockey that was played.

“It was a wide open style of hockey, one that we don’t preach or teach here,” said Heenan. “There were 2-on-1’s, 3-on-1’s, up and down for both teams. It was a really wide-open style that you almost find consistently with those SUNY teams. They like the shootouts. If we continue to get involved in those styles of games, it’s not our style and we’re not going to win those.”

Freshman Phenoms — Part 3

The freshmen from RIT weren’t going to be left off of the score sheet in their opening games either. The new Tigers scored the first goals in each of the first two games of the season.

Just 4:36 into his first collegiate game, Darren Doherty tallied a goal to get the Tigers rolling against St. Clair. Doherty leads all RIT freshmen in points after three games with a goal and two assists.

In Friday night’s contest against Wisconsin-Eau Claire, freshman Craig Hupp found himself all alone in front of the Blugold net and buried the puck 8:57 into the game to get RIT on the board.

“I thought they both took a step forward,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “It is good to see them get going so quickly.”

Wilson also got a good look at freshman goaltender George Eliopoulos, who started Saturday’s game against Eau Claire. Eliopoulos played the entire game, and stopped 22 of the 24 shots that he faced to earn his first collegiate win.

It is hard to say just how good RIT is this season. The Tigers have blown out the competition in all three of its contests this season by a combined score of 26-6. However, one of those games was an exhibition against Canadian school St. Clair. And Saturday’s game against Eau Claire was spent almost entirely on special teams due to overzealous officiating.

Coach Wilson should get a much better feel for his team this week when the Tigers travel up to Maxcy Hall to take on a reinvigorated, and undefeated, Potsdam team.

Other Freshman Phenoms

Not to be outdone, other teams in the ECAC West are also getting good production out of their freshmen.

Manhattanville’s Sean Keane helped dig the Valiants out of a 4-1 hole against Geneseo to earn a tie. Keane scored Manhattanville’s third goal midway through the second period to keep the rally alive. Keane also netted a goal against Neumann on Wednesday.

Half of Neumann’s team this year is freshmen, so it shouldn’t be surprising that two freshmen lead the Knights in scoring. Mike Burns and Joe Viscuse scored all four goals for Neumann in their three games last week.

Early Problems

Heenan is sending an early-season message to his players concerning their off-ice responsibilities. The Pioneers are playing in the Buffalo State All-Sport Invitational Tournament this weekend, but will be shorthanded. Heenan has suspended six players for the weekend for academic performance.

It is unusual to have suspensions for academic reasons less than two months into the academic quarter. But Heenan believes that academics are paramount and players must attend classes.

“We trying to set the tone here, early in our program,” said Heenan. “Guys have to go to class.”

Game of the Week

The top of the charts this week is the renewal of the annual early season rivalry between Elmira and Oswego. Both teams are coming off hard season opening losses. Oswego has had Elmira’s number the last three seasons, handing the Soaring Eagles an early season loss each time.

“When we have played [Oswego] early in our schedule the last couple of years, we have struggled a bit,” said Ceglarski. “They’re coming off a tough loss, and we’re coming off a tough two losses to St. Norbert. I think we have developed a rivalry with Oswego. I think it is healthy, and the guys get a little more excited when there is more on the line and when other teams think there is more on the line too.”

This game should be a barnburner of a home opener in front of the very partisan Elmira faithful.

This Week in the CHA: Oct. 31, 2002

By Geof F. Morris
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Chargers Stumble Out of Gate

What’s up with Alabama-Huntsville? Sure, the Chargers have played tough teams, but did anyone expect this?

“Winning these games wasn’t our highest goal,” Charger coach Doug Ross said last weekend. “Getting out and playing well and staying with these teams was. We wanted to come out, play hard, represent ourselves and our conference well. If we win, great.”

The Chargers did play well against Wisconsin, but last weekend’s series against Denver was tougher on the team. Maybe it was the altitude?

“I know when we played here last time, I was sucking wind by the third period both nights,” Charger defenseman Ian Fletcher said. “It’s certainly an advantage for them, because they’re used to it.”

“Our big guns just aren’t firing now,” Charger assistant Lance West said. “When they get going, we’ll be fine.”

West is right: the Chargers just have six goals on the season, and three of those belong to Karlis Zirnis. Tyler Butler, who led the conference in scoring last season, has a single assist to show through four games.

But weren’t things supposed to be better? “I figured that we’d go 2-4,” West said. “I hoped that we’d split with Wisconsin and then have one of the goalies steal one of the other four games.” That clearly hasn’t happened, although the Chargers could have taken either game against Wisconsin.

Something to remember, though, is that Wayne State struggled out of the gate last year, going 1-6-1 in its first eight nonconference games. Look where the Warriors ended up.

Heading Into … Overtime

What is it with Bemidji State and overtime? Four games into the season, and the Beavers have yet to finish a game in regulation.

“It was a great series, you know?” Bemidji coach Tom Serratore said. “I thought they were two good games. We put a lot of shots on net.”

Is it frustrating not to get a decision? “There’s not much you can do. We’re playing good hockey right now, and we’ll see what happens later. Our defense is good, our power play got five goals last weekend. We just keep on playing and see what happens.”

Of course, one has to wonder what this does to a team’s psyche. Serratore didn’t seem worried. “Everyone goes through good times and bad times. It’s a six-month season. We’ll just try to get healed up and get things going.”

Speaking of healing, it seems that Travis Barnes won’t have as much healing to do as first though. “There wasn’t a tear like we thought there was,” Serratore said. “He could be back for us by the time we go down to Huntsville in January.”

Barnes isn’t the only injured Beaver, as Grady Hunt missed last weekend with a groin injury. “We might could have played Grady this weekend, but we decided to hold him off until conference play starts,” Serratore said. “We want to err on the side of caution. Last year [with only an at-large bid at stake], maybe we play Grady against a WCHA team. This year, conference play is just much too important.”

The Beavers do play in the WCHA this weekend, as they travel to Minnesota State. “It’s tough to play these WCHA teams, because you’re almost always on the road. It challenges you, though, and it shows you where your strengths and weaknesses are. It’s different on the Olympic ice, going from the small ice to the big ice.”

It’s clear, though, from talking to the coaches this season that conference play is paramount. Denver coach George Gwozdecky noted that last weekend: “Our focus right now is on Wisconsin. Just like UAH, we used this weekend to get ourselves ready for conference play.”

So Close … Yet So Far Away

Niagara went to North Dakota last weekend and nearly stole itself a game, coming up short by just two goals in each contest. Was that frustrating for the Purple Eagles? “We were in both games in the third period,” said coach Dave Burkholder. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get a W either time.”

The Eagles were really close on Friday night, taking a 2-0 lead before giving up two shorthanded goals in 14 seconds. “If you take away their two shorthanded goals right there back to back, we might win that game,” Burkholder said. “I almost called a timeout, but I didn’t, and we scored, which we really needed.”

Burkholder’s team will host Air Force this weekend in the conference’s first action of the season. “It’s a great weekend if we come out and win two games. We haven’t won the last five times they’ve come here. We just have to come out with spirit and defend home ice.”

Andy Berg is a force to be reckoned with, says Burkholder. “The last five games that he’s played against us, he’s killed us. He’s established himself as one of the best power play guys in the country. Stopping him is going to be tough.”

Niagara has its own offensive juggernaut, however, in Joe Tallari, who’s tied for sixth in Division I in scoring. “The coaches at NoDak were really praising him. If you get him down low with just a little space, he’s going to score some goals. We lost him his freshman year to an injury, but he’s back now, and we’re really starting to see the real Joe.”

How does Burkholder plan to try to win this weekend? “We have to establish tempo. We’ll really have to do that with the forecheck. If we can do that, we can.”

How important are these games to Niagara?

“If you’re going to establish yourself as a contender, you’ve got to win your home games, and that’s what we’re going to try to do this weekend,” said the coach.

A key to winning is going to be play in net, where junior Rob Bonk and freshman Jeff VanNyatten have split duties. “I haven’t really had someone step up and establish himself as a No. 1,” said Burkholder. “Both of them are playing adequately. I’ve been pleased, though. I’d rather have someone claim the net and then spell him with the backup based on the schedule. So far, though, we have two guys battling.”

Warriors Win and Lose

Wayne State lofted its second straight CHA banner to the rafters at home, and then went out and swept St. Lawrence. But it wasn’t all roses for the Warriors.

“It was a weekend of the good and the bad,” said coach Bill Wilkinson. “We played well against St. Lawrence, but losing Jason [Durbin] was hard.” Durbin came out for his first shift on Saturday night and left soon thereafter after having his kneecap pop out of place. “He’ll be out two to three weeks.”

How does a team replace its captain? “It hurts to lose any good player. Of course, last weekend we didn’t have Chris Vail or Nick Shrader last weekend, and they’re both back. We’ll probably move Dusty Kingston over to play in Durbin’s spot. That’s why you have more than just the 12 forwards.”

Wilkinson, a St. Lawrence alum, seemed happy to play his alma mater. “It was good to get back to two-and-two,” he laughed, referring to his all-time record against SLU. “I was just pleased that we did well enough to get two wins. I’m really happy with how we’re playing right now, even though it’s early in the season.”

Wilkinson takes his team out east this weekend. “Vermont’s always a difficult place to play. They’ve got a great crowd and a fun college atmosphere. Our kids are going to enjoy playing in that environment, since we don’t have that at home. At home, we have a lot of empty chair backs, and they don’t yell very loud.”

Sunday, the Warriors travel to face the Big Green. “I’m looking forward to being down at Dartmouth, too, and it’s probably the most beautiful campus in the country.”

“Anytime you play a good nonconference schedule, it makes your team play harder, and it’s a good atmosphere.”

Findlay Comes Up Just Short

Findlay looked like it would beat nearby Bowling Green State last weekend, but after leading 3-1 with just 11 minutes remaining, the Oilers gave up three goals to lose to the Falcons, 4-3.

“We played real well, and we’re happy with our guys,” said coach Craig Barnett. “We had a really strong second period. IF we could have a fourth goal to go up 4-1, we could have won the game. We had some opportunities, but we couldn’t get it going.”

A new face for the Oilers is Sean Kotary, who started off at BGSU before going to juniors for a year and then transferring to Findlay. “Sean was obviously looking forward to playing Bowling Green, and he was able to get on board with a goal. Our power play right now has been effective for us, and he’s part of that.”

Kotary isn’t the only pleasant surprise, according to Barnett. “Kris Wiebe is a surprise for us. He’s been scoring a couple goals every game. Other than him, the offense is really spread around.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Rigel Shaw isn’t leading the Oilers in scoring. “Rigel’s been struggling, sure, but I think that’s just part of a larger problem with our team. He’s been showing signs of getting going.”

Barnett said that the Oilers have been inconsistent so far. “We’ve been a Jekyll and Hyde team. When we’re focused and working hard, we’re a great team, but when we lose focus, we’re a really poor team. We hope that we’ll come out and play hard for sixty minutes and put ourselves in a good position to beat Colgate.”

That inconsistency carried over into Findlay’s exhibition on Tuesday against the U.S. under-18 team. “Those guys did to us what I thought we did to Bowling Green on Friday,” Barnett said. “I thought we stunk for the first 40 minutes. We played with a lack of emotion, and they took it to us. Down 4-1 going into the third, and the guys just seemed to react to what we said during intermission.”

The Oilers’ third period scoring was capped off by Steve Traver, who scored shorthanded. “By that time, we had the momentum, and they were starting to panic. We had the puck pinned deep in their zone. Traves came out in the slot and put in a good hard slapper.”

Barnett has continued to make use of both Jamie VandeSpyker and Kevin Fines in net. “They’re both playing extremely well. They’ve kept us in it. As long as are goalies are doing that, we’ll win some games.”

Barnett looks for redemption and consistency this weekend against Colgate. “Tomorrow night’s a new game. Colgate’s one of the stronger ECAC teams. They’ve got some skilled players. We just want to come out and play well like we know we can.”

This Week in the MAAC: Oct. 31, 2002

By
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Battle lines are “draw”n

It may have been only late October last week when the two MAAC favorite front-runners, Quinnipiac and Mercyhurst, took to the ice. But no one in the country was listening to both coaches down-play the importance of the game.

It was a rematch, to start, of the last two MAAC title tilts. It also was pitting the preseason number one against number two.

So hold your tongue with the “just another game” philosophy.

Even so, there may have been a bit of an indication given by the players on the ice that the game that the March-like atmosphere of the game was missing.

Mercyhurst came out flat. Quinnipiac, after playing a penalty-filled affair on Friday night against Canisius, was beat up and tired after two periods.

So maybe it comes as no surprise that the ultimate outcome was a 3-3 draw.

“I think my guys were excited to play Mercyhurst as always but it’s not nearly what it is when you play them in the playoffs,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “There was intensity but not incredible intensity for either team.”

We didn’t play all that well in the first two periods. The guys decided to play in the third period and broke it open.

Though tied, 2-2, through two periods, a 23-9 shot count in favor of Quinnipiac was not what Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin envisioned. He knew after two periods that something needed to be done. So what was his magic solution that cured his club and put them on the top side of the attack in the third period and overtime?

“We just talked… loudly,” said Gotkin about his between-periods speech. “I’ll credit to our guys, though, that they decided to work hard at it and win a game we needed to win.”

Still, though, the question remains how much the Laker team can rely on the ability to turn the switch on and off when playing. Many teams, particularly at the college level, are cursed by the inability to give a solid effort each night but still remain on top. To Gotkin, he believes it’s a problem that plagues his club.

“We’ve been like that for years,” Gotkin said about the on-and-off mentality. “I don’t like it and I don’t know why we do it. It’s a dangerous way to live in the athletic world. We need to find a way to stop doing that.”

From Quinnipiac’s standpoint, leaving Erie with a point in the league standings was probably a positive. According to Pecknold, he was impressed with Mercyhurst’s effort and the overall makeup of one of his biggest MAAC competitors.

“It’s a different team than last year,” said Pecknold. “It’s hard to evaluate the team because [star forward Adam] Tackaberry didn’t play.”

Even without Tackaberry, who returned home last week for personal reasons but will be back in the lineup this week at Maine, Pecknold felt the Laker offense was still potent.

“David Wrigley played in [Tackaberry’s] place on that line and he was awesome, so it seems he’s really blossoming.”

Weekly Awards

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Player of the Week: Brandon Doria, Holy Cross Bayonne, New Jersey

Doria had four points in two games against Army and Iona this week. Versus Army, Doria scored two goals including the game-winner. Against Iona, he had another goal and an assist. He is now tied for the team lead in points and leads outright in goals.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Goalie of the Week: Tony Quesada, Holy Cross South Freeport, Maine

Quesada had two impressive performances in the two Crusader victories this week. In the Army game, he notched 21 saves in the 4-1 win. Against Iona, he posted 20 saves in the 6-3 victory. The wins were Quesada’s second and third of his collegiate career. He holds a 3-1-0 record in net for the season.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Rookie of the Week: Aaron Ludwig, Quinnipiac Lampman, Sask

After going scoreless in his first three collegiate games, Ludwig erupted over the weekend. He had a goal and an assist in the win at Canisius and followed that up with what proved to be the game-tying goal against Mercyhurst.

Hit the road — literally

With Mercyhurst one of two geographic misfits to the MAAC, travel is a weekly occurrence for the Lakers. A credit to the school is that most of the time the Erie, Penn.,-based team is able to fly to its road games, most of which are played in New England.

When faced with a 14-plus hour bus ride to the University of Maine this weekend, though, Gotkin wasn’t able to defer to flying the friendly skies. With the inability to fly smaller prop and jet planes because of the large travel party and equipment, the reality of the trip is that the Lakers would have to bus two hours to Pittsburgh, fly from Pittsburgh to Portland, Maine, then bus another two hours to Orono.

When factoring in flying time and the need to arrive two hours before the flight, the plane trip turned into an eight- or nine-hour adventure, leading to Gotkin’s decision to bus it.

“It just didn’t make sense to fly there,” said Gotkin. “It works well in the end because now we can fly next weekend to play important league games against Fairfield and Connecticut.”

Still, it leaves little consolation to a coach traveling with 20-plus college kids.

“There’s only so many bad movies you can watch on these bus rides.”

It’s okay, Rick. We hear that MTV’s Road Rules is looking to recruit you.

On the tube

Trying to play catch up to its other conference brethren, the MAAC conference will finally take a major step forward this weekend on television.

For the first time in league history, a MAAC regular-season contest will grace the national cable airwaves when Quinnipiac and Connecticut square off on New England Sports Network (NESN) on Friday night. The clash of the Connecticut rivals can be seen coast-to-coast and internationally on Direct TV (Ch. 623) and other satellite networks.

According to Pecknold, the game is one of two contests between the clubs that will be televised this year. Quinnipiac had also negotiated to have nonleague contests against Maine and Northeastern televised, but that concept was squashed by Fox Sports New England, Hockey East’s television network.

As the story goes, local Connecticut television station Fox-61 was originally going to broadcast all four of the games. But when the station approached NESN, the New England cable giant leapt at the deal.

But the Northeastern and Maine games are being played in Hockey East arenas. So when the folks at Fox Sports New England, the exclusive television network of Hockey East, caught wind, they quickly strong-armed the end of the deal.

“We asked [Fox Sports New England] if they wanted to take the game, but they said they had no room,” Pecknold said, which left his team without two major games on television.

The Hockey East league office further clarified the situation.

“The contract with Fox Sports New England is exclusive that prohibits Hockey East teams from having competing stations broadcasting out of their building,” said Noah Smith, director of media relations for Hockey East.

Smith did say that the exception to that rule are local television stations like New Hampshire Public Television and WABI in Maine, both of which broadcast about 10 games each for the New Hampshire and Maine, respectively. Which makes one wonder if Connecticut-based Fox-61 will eventually pop back into the loop as a possible broadcaster. But the contract is set up to keep regional broadcast networks, such as NESN — a direct competitor with Fox Sports Net — out of Hockey East buildings.

Still Pecknold is happy to have some television exposure.

“We’ll not only have recruits, but supporters of the program, who can go out and watch these games. The last two years playing in the championship game of the MAAC we got the exposure and it was great. You can’t believe how many people will watch that game.

Quesada welcome in Worcester

Having surprised the world last year with a top-four finish in the MAAC regular season after back-to-back dismal campaigns, Holy Cross’ hockey program seemed to be righting itself and poised to return to the form that led the Crusaders to the inaugural MAAC tournament in 1999.

The fact that a good chunk of last year’s club returned this season made expectations even higher for the Worcester, Mass.,-based school.

But still, there was one major question: How good are the Crusaders in goal?

The answer to that may still be months away from being answered, but the first month of the season has shown a glimmer of hope in rookie netminder Tony Quesada. After a rude welcome to the league by Quinnipiac — a night that saw Quesada get beaten five times in two periods before being lifted by coach Paul Pearl — Quesada has responded with three consecutive wins and earned this week’s MAAC Defensive Player of the Week honor.

Even when Quesada got shelled against Quinnipiac, Pearl wouldn’t place blame, saying that he played well and that he simply wanted to let another rookie — in experience only, as he’s a sophomore that did not play last year — Matt Norton, see his first ice time.

“I just wanted to get Norty some time,” Pearl said. “When you’re down five-love after two there’s no better time to throw him in there. Neither guy has a lick of college experience under his belt so it was a good chance to get them both that experience.”

Pearl is adamant that despite the thoughts of others, he firmly believed in his goaltending at the start of the year.

“I never thought goaltending was an issue,” said Pearl. “I thought that we brought some talented kids in and I was confident that one would emerge.”

At this point, one certainly has in Quesada.

“He’s a mature kid so he’s been able to come in and play well at times,” said Pearl. “A lot had to do with playing at Holderness (a local prep school). He played the bulk there and came in here ready to go.”

That’s not to say that Quesada is the definite number-one. Pearl was extremely impressed by the player Norton returned as this year.

“Norty spent the entire summer working hard, getting in shape, probably doing things he had never done in his life,” said Pearl. “He turned himself from a third guy last year that didn’t see the ice into a viable candidate for the starting position.”

Ludwig earning keep at QU

Highly-touted recruit Aaron Ludwig began to prove his worth last weekend in the key clash with Mercyhurst. His shorthanded goal with less than 15 minutes to play in regulation gave the Bobcats a 3-2 lead in a game that would finish deadlocked at three.

Pecknold knew when he recruited Ludwig, who played junior hockey last year for the Nipawin Hawks in Saskatchewan, that he could be an impact player. Seeing him on the ice has more than proved that.

“We knew he was going to be good, but he’s really starting to emerge,” said Pecknold. “He’ll put up some numbers offensively, but he’s a great defensive forward. He does all the little things and that makes him the complete package.”

Last weekend was Ludwig’s official welcome to the scoresheet for the Bobcats. After remaining scoreless in his first five games, Ludwig added a goal and an assist Friday against Canisius to his key goal Saturday.

Quote of the week

Mercyhurst’s Gotkin, about his team’s chances this weekend playing the tenth-ranked Maine Black Bears:

“If we don’t play well, it could be a real tough weekend. Then again, if we do play well it could be a real tough weekend.”

This Week in the ECAC: Oct. 31, 2002

By Jayson Moy and Becky Blaeser
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So now it really begins. This weekend marks the first time that the Ivies will be hitting the ice for regular season contests, meaning that it’s the first chance to see all of the ECAC teams in action.

To date, the ECAC hasn’t been exactly taking the college hockey world by storm. Heading into this weekend’s action — which includes 12 nonconference and two conference games — the ECAC has a 9-14-6 record — 2-11-5 against the CCHA, Hockey East and CCHA. The ECAC is 2-2-1 against the CHA and a sparkling 5-1-0 against the MAAC.

But, when you look at the whole picture, against the “Big Four,” only one conference has a record over the .500 mark — Hockey East.

With that said, it is with great excitement that we look towards this weekend as we have the Ivies taking center stage, and big matchups against some of the top teams in the nation.

Two teams everyone will be watching will be Cornell and Harvard — the two that advanced to the NCAA Tournament just eight months ago and the only two ECAC teams currently nationally ranked.

The No. 8 Cornell Big Red are coming off a feisty 9-1 win over York last week and will face off against Ohio State on Saturday night. The testy team from Canada angered a few Big Red players and the status of freshman Matt Moulson, who suffered a sprained knee following a knee-to-knee hit, is still questionable. Regardless, Cornell appears focused on one goal right now — to maintain its high national ranking.

“It’s the cards we’ve been dealt, we’re at an Ivy League institution,” said Cornell head coach Mike Schafer about his team’s early-season schedule. “We’re two weeks behind and that’s what we have to deal with. But for us, we need to play well to maintain our [ranking].

“It’s unfortunate, it really puts us under the gun to go out there and have one game before our league starts to prove ourselves across the country with 10 practices under our belts. That’s a tall order. But I think you saw tonight, goaltending and special teams will be solid as we approach Ohio State.”

“The only [way] for our team to be successful is to take one game at a time,” said co-captain Doug Murray. “We have to stay focused on that, and every week is an important opponent. Especially Ohio state coming up now. We’ve got to look forward to our next opponent. It’s not like we were blowing out teams last year. It’s a lot of hard work in practice that helps us win those games.

“Every game is crucial for the NCAA bid. We know Ohio State; we’ve played them twice since I’ve been here. Everyone knows it’ll be a good game, and they have a good squad, so we’ll be ready to play.”

The 15th-ranked Harvard Crimson wastes no time in taking on league foe Brown on Saturday night in Providence. Thus far, Mark Mazzoleni’s team has been preparing for this season opener with a lot of practices and one informal scrimmage against Brown last weekend. Despite the lack of game experience heading into Saturday night, Mazzoleni feels that his team is prepared for this season more than ever before.

“When I took over this program, I wasn’t naïve about where we were at,” explains Mazzoleni. “I knew that it would take time and we have taken progressive steps. To be a better team you need to experience the highs of winning and the lows of defeat and then apply them to becoming a better team. We have had a variety of experiences that have prepared us for this year, but none were better than our run to the [NCAA Tournament] last year.”

The Bears, meanwhile, knocked off Western Ontario last weekend by a 4-1 score. Netminder Yann Danis will be the focal point of the team this season as will the returning upperclassmen. Realizing that experience may be the strength of his team this year, head coach Roger Grillo did not dress any of his six freshmen in the team’s exhibition game last week.

“With all the players we have returning, we have to just prepare for next weekend,” said Grillo. “Freshmen will see some time this year. If we had five exhibitions before Harvard it would be a different story.”

Grillo, and five others, are in that situation of starting later than everyone else, but points to the positives — especially when playoff time comes.

“It’s especially tough for the Ivy’s and with the new format it takes the pressure off of those that don’t get on the ice until later,” said Grillo. “It takes a little bit of pressure off the first half of the season to go right at it. If you lose a game in October, it won’t haunt you later on as much as it has in the past.”

While Brown and Harvard battle each other, Yale and Princeton will be tested by sixth-ranked North Dakota, which makes a swing through Princeton and New Haven this weekend, while Dartmouth will face off against Wayne State and Merrimack.

The Best

Up north in the reaches of New York, the Route 11 rivalry renews itself as St. Lawrence and Clarkson go at it in Appleton Arena.

Clarkson opened its regular season with a trip to Ohio State and lost two close games.

“Despite dropping two games we saw a real competitive effort both nights,” said head coach Mark Morris. “Things didn’t go our way, but we worked extremely hard and made both games close. It is apparent that we are not blessed with an enormous amount of depth in the scoring department. So we are going to make every effort to play as much error free hockey as possible. It is imperative that we do a better job of working on our specialty teams to ensure that we capitalize when we have the opportunities.”

St. Lawrence was also in the Midwest facing Wayne State. The Saints dropped two as well.

“The first game was hard to get a read on last year, and I don’t think it will be any different this time around,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “We know we have a lot of things to work on and we are still trying to find our identity as a team. We did some good things at Wayne State, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We have to minimize our mistakes and try to generate more sustained offense.

“Wayne State is a veteran team with an excellent goaltender. They showed that they really know how to play with the lead and they capitalized on their opportunities. We had our chances both nights, but came up just short.”

Last year the two teams opened up the ECAC schedule at Cheel Arena and saw a wild affair as the Knights won the game in overtime, 7-6. Clarkson had gone up 3-0 in the first period, ending it up 4-1, but saw the Saints score three times in the second to tie the game at 4-4. Clarkson opened up with two goals in the third, but the Saints came back to tie it before Kerry Ellis-Toddington won the game in overtime.

“As is true with each passing year the St. Lawrence games are some of the more heated and emotional games that we play,” said Morris. “The action will be fast and furious. I had the opportunity to watch St. Lawrence a couple of times two weekends ago and I was very impressed with some of their young talent. They look to be a very creative and very fast skating team.”

It Gets Tougher

The Rensselaer Engineers head to St. Cloud to take on the No. 14 Huskies. These games will be different than the ones last weekend. No offense to Iona and Army, but St. Cloud is a better team, and getting two shutouts, as Kevin Kurk did last weekend, will be tough.

“We’re aware of that,” said head coach Dan Fridgen. “The way we approach things is that a schedule is tough no matter who the opponent is. You could say you’re supposed to win, but you can say the Yankees were supposed to win the World Series too.”

More Action

Colgate will head to Ohio this weekend to take on Findlay and Ohio State. The Raiders swept Sacred Heart this weekend as Paul Kelley scored both game-winners. The weekend sweep was the Raiders first since the first weekend of February last year and the Raiders hope it gives them momentum.

“To get the win is obviously the most important thing,” said head coach Don Vaughan. “The guys have got to feel good about all the hard work they’ve been putting in, and it’s nice to come out on the other end of one of these one goal games.”

Union had a successful weekend as well with a win and a tie against Bemidji State. Jordan Webb was 3-1-4 on the weekend and earned the ECAC Player of the Week honor. The Dutchmen will host Holy Cross this weekend.

The Vermont Catamounts got in the win column after coming close a few times, though it took them overtime against Fairfield last Saturday. The Cats saw Joey Gasparini score with 38 seconds left in OT to earn the win and Rookie of the Week honors. The Cats host Wayne State and Trois-Riviere this weekend.

The Small Screen

Well, it looks like the ECAC has some sort of package on television once again. After not having one last season, the ECAC and NESN have paired up for a few games.

Here is the schedule:

January 24, 2003 Rensselaer at Vermont
January 31, 2003 Brown at Harvard
February 3, 2003 Beanpot
February 7, 2003 Clarkson at Princeton
February 22, 2003 Union at Cornell
February 28, 2003 Colgate at Yale
March 21, 2003 ECAC Semifinals
March 22, 2003 ECAC championship Game

The Best and Worst

We’re back with another edition.

The Best — The Record

The ECAC went 6-3-1 in nonconference play this weekend, the first winning nonconference weekend of the season for the league. OK, the record against the other “Big Four” conferences was 0-2, but we’ll take it.

The Worst — Us

For making the column so short this week. Sorry folks, a better effort next week.

Thanks to Adam Wodon, Sean Peden and Alex Clark for their contributions this week.

This Week in the WCHA Women’s League: Oct. 31, 2002

By Craig Roberts
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Wisconsin isn’t jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire this weekend — just into another frying pan.

The Badgers’ two biggest rivals, Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota, just happen to be the teams they face during the last weekend in October and first weekend in November.

They also happen to be ranked one and two in the country.

Coming off a home series against the Bulldogs, in which they lost 7-2 and tied 3-3, the Badgers realized they were one period, a five-goal third period on Friday, from at least splitting the weekend series.

"It’s important that we come into this weekend knowing what we need to work on, make the necessary corrections and stay intense."

— Wisconsin goalie Jackie MacMillan, on the Badgers’ series with Minnesota

Last weekend was a blow to Wisconsin because it lost three of four points but also marked the difference in the two rivalries. The Badgers and Bulldogs don’t like each other, as was witnessed by an incident that saw Wisconsin senior captain Sis Paulsen and UMD senior forward Joanne Eustace both given game disqualification penalties for fighting Saturday.

“UMD came in and blew us out in our inaugural game,” said Badger goalie Jackie MacMillan. “As seniors, we remember that and, when we play them, we play for some revenge.

“The rivalry with Minnesota is more mental. If you grow up in Minnesota or Wisconsin, you know that the ‘Border Battle’ is a big deal.”

In other words, the Badgers and Gophers don’t have any personal grudges but don’t expect the teams to hold hands and sing songs either.

Wisconsin effectively ended Minnesota’s season two years ago at the WCHA Final Five. With the Gophers sitting on the bubble of the gaining a berth in the first NCAA Women’s Frozen Four, which they were hosting, the Badgers handed them a 4-3 loss.

Last season, the Minnesota carried a 24-game unbeaten streak into a home series with Wisconsin and the Badgers promptly defeated the Gophers 2-0, handing them just their second shutout loss at home in school history.

Minnesota has handed the Badgers some tough losses as well, including a 3-2 loss in the WCHA Championship last season, which ended Wisconsin’s season and sent Minnesota to the Frozen Four as the number one seed.

The Badgers also have eight Minnesotans on their roster for whom this rivalry is always special. Four of those eight are making their last appearance in Minneapolis.

“It’s something I try not to think about,” MacMillan said. “But it’s hard not to think that this is my last time playing in the Twin Cities. I want to play hard and have no regrets.

“At the same time, this is an important weekend for use because we need to get some points.”

MacMillan knows her team played well for five of six periods against UMD and will be ready for the Gophers this weekend.

“I think we have some very positive things to build off,” she said of the series with the Bulldogs. “But we also made mistakes and everyone realizes we have some things we can improve. It’s important that we come into this weekend knowing what we need to work on, make the necessary corrections and stay intense.”

However, the Badgers suffered two key losses on their blue line. Paulsen will have to sit out the first game of the series due to her disqualification penalty. Sophomore Carla MacLeod, who was scheduled to play for Team Canada at next week’s Four Nations Cup, is out for the series. She suffered a fractured fibula in Friday’s loss to UMD and will be in a cast for six weeks before beginning rehabilitation. Her return to the lineup isn’t expected until after Christmas break.

Still, the Badgers have more quality on the blueline than most. Senior Kerry Weiland is a player teams love to hate but her 110 career points and three All-WCHA selections attest to the fact that she is more than a pest. Sophomore Nicole Uliasz was a U.S. National Team member last year and will represent her country at the Four Nations Cup next week.

The difference in this weekend’s series for the Badgers, moreso than in the past, is that the team has higher expectations and splitting, at the very least, with their top two rivals is expected.

For both teams, this may be an important weekend. For one, however, it may be a little more important.

WCHA “House”Hold Hints

Several league teams will look to give role players more playing time this weekend as they prepare for next weekend’s action … A total of 15 players are scheduled to miss playing time next weekend as they represent their countries at the Four Nations Cup … UMD loses six players for its series at Ohio State while the Buckeyes will be without junior defenseman Emma Laaksonen … Minnesota loses forwards Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens and Krissy Wendell and defenseman Winny Brodt … Wisconsin will be without the services of three defensemen … Carla MacLeod, who was scheduled to play with Team Canada, is gone until at least Christmas with a broken leg … Fellow blueliners Nicole Uliasz and Kerry Weiland will also miss the Badgers’ three-game road trip, which features two exhibition games and a meeting at No. 7 St. Lawrence … St. Cloud State loses freshman forward Josefin Pettersson to Team Sweden.

Minnesota head coach Laura Halldorson could become the seventh coach in women’s college hockey history to win 200 games with a sweep of the Badgers … She currently stands at 198-105-24 in 13 seasons … Coming off three loses over the weekend, an injury-depleted St. Cloud State squad is off this weekend … Despite having some of the WCHA’s top offensive players on display, Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin combined to go 0-for-16 on the power play in their weekend series … Bulldog senior forward Maria Rooth played her 100th career game over the weekend and is UMD’s all-time leader with 101 career goals and 184 career points … Minnesota State is playing its first non-conference games of the season this weekend when it hosts Mercyhurst … St. Cloud State seniors Abby Cooper and Amanda Mathison both reached the 100 career games played plateau last weekend … Bemidji State junior forward Guylaine Haché recorded her first career hat trick in the Beavers’ 6-2 win at Minnesota State Friday.

WCHA Awards

Offensive Player of the Week–Erika Holst, Sr., F, UMD
Defensive Player of the Week–Jody Horak, So., G, Minnesota
Rookie of the Week–Krissy Wendell, Fr., F, Minnesota

Coming Up

No. 6 Wisconsin at No. 2 Minnesota

Minnesota leads the all-time series 12-2-1, including a 5-1 record in Minneapolis … Gopher sophomore goalie Jody Horak has posted back-to-back shutouts in her last two starts … She has not allowed a goal since the second period of a 7-2 win at Findlay, Oct. 13, a span of 193 minutes, 43 seconds … Wisconsin’s Jackie MacMillan is the only goalie in the league to have played all for her team’s minutes in goal … Gopher freshman Krissy Wendell has been named the league’s rookie of the week each of the last two weeks … She scored both game-winning goals last weekend at Ohio State … Minnesota is beginning a six-game homestand … Eight of the Gophers’ next 10 games will be at Ridder Arena … 15 of Minnesota’s 18 skaters have scored a point this season … Wisconsin junior forward Meghan Hunter has scored a point in all six Badger games this season … She has a 16-game point-scoring streak during which time she has 11 goals and 15 assists.

Ohio State at Bemidji State (Friday-Saturday)

The Buckeyes are 7-5-2 all-time against BSU … The Beavers hired former Maine and St. Lawrence defenseman Lauren Steblen as an assistant coach this week … In her first games behind the Bemidji State bench she will be facing her sister, Lindsey, a senior defensemen for Ohio State … After starting the season 7-for-12 on the power play, the Buckeyes have converted just one of their last 16 opportunities … Beaver senior center Amber Fryklund enters the weekend with a six-game assist-scoring streak … She is seven points shy of 100 for her career and is the only BSU player to average over a point per game for her career … Junior goalie Anik Coté has started all four of the Beavers’ conference games this season.

North Dakota at No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth (Friday-Saturday)

The two teams are meeting for the first time … UMD is perfect on the penalty kill this season, killing all 40 of its opponents power-play chances … The Bulldogs have killed 49 consecutive power plays with the last power goal against them coming in a 6-2 win over Ohio State, March 9, 2002, in the WCHA Third-Place game … UMD senior forward Erika Holst has multiple-points in all six games this season, racking up a national-best 19 points … She’s been named the WCHA’s player of the week two weeks in a row … 17 of the Bulldogs’ 19 skaters have registered a point this season … UND is fifth nationally in penalty killing at 91.7 percent … The Sioux have allowed just one power-play goal in three games … Junior forward Stasia Bakhit has scored in all three regular-season and both exhibition games for UND … She ranks ninth nationally with 1.67 points per game.

No. 10 Mercyhurst at Minnesota State (Saturday-Sunday)

Mercyhurst is 5-0-0 against MSU … The Lakers have allowed just four goals in those give contests … Mercyhurst won both games at Mankato last year by 3-1 counts … Four of the Mavericks eight goals this season have been scored by newcomers … MSU sophomore forward Kristina Koga notched her first career goal in Friday’s 6-2 loss to Bemidji State … Saturday’s win was the Mavericks’ first conference home victory in nearly three years, with their last win coming against the Beavers as well, Nov. 28, 1999 … Mercyhurst is 4-0-0 against WCHA opponents this season … The Lakers have yet to play a CHA games this season, the last team to do so … Mercyhurst’s 6-2-0 start is its best in four seasons.

Merrimack’s Crusco Cut by Skate, Out Three Months

USCHO Staff Report
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Merrimack sophomore center Steve Crusco will miss at least three months after suffering a laceration of the palm side of his left arm during practice on Oct. 29.

Crusco had five tendons and an artery severed when his arm was pinched against the boards by the blade of a teammate’s skate.

He was rushed to [nl]Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital and underwent three hours of emergency surgery to repair the damaged tendons and artery. The surgery was successful with no complications reported.

According to the school, Crusco is expected to recover fully from the injury, but he will miss at least three months of the season and is not expected back before February.

Crusco had scored the game winning goal for Merrimack in its 5-3 upset win over then No. 6 Boston University exactly one week before the injury occurred. He also set up the goal that made it 2-2 and was tied for the team lead in scoring with two goals and three points in four games.

Last season, Crusco worked his way into the lineup midway through the season and ended up playing 20 games with two goals and three points. Through the first four games of this year, he and linemates Tim Reidy and Nick Pomponio had combined to score six of the Warriors’ 11 goals.

Brown Chosen to Host ECAC Women’s Tournament

USCHO Staff Report
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Brown has been selected host of the 2003 ECAC Women’s Hockey League championship.

The event will take place at Brown’s recently renovated Meehan Auditorium in [nl]Providence, R.I. Semifinal games will be on Saturday, March 15, with the championship game on Sunday, March 16.

“We have a successful working relationship with Brown, having conducted four events in the city of Providence, and we are looking forward to returning in 2003,” said ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco. “The facility is first-class and will be a central location for college hockey fans from around the league to gather to watch our championship event.”

A total of eight teams will qualify for the ECAC playoffs and will be seeded based on regular-season standings. The format for the quarterfinals will be a best two-of-three series and will be played on the weekend of March 7-9 at the home rinks of the highest seeds. The winners of the quarterfinal games will advance to the championship at Brown.

The 2003 championship will mark the fifth year that Brown has hosted
the event.

Gophers Pursue Bulldogs in Women’s Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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Minnesota-Duluth’s lead in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll slipped to just five points over No. 2 Minnesota, after the Bulldogs won and tied against No. 6 Wisconsin in a weekend set. Minnesota earned a sweep over Ohio State, and vaulted into first place in the WCHA standings. 10 of the 15 first-place votes went to Minnesota-Duluth, with the remaining five being awarded to the Golden Gophers.

The other major change in this week’s poll is new-No. 10 Mercyhurst, which appears in the poll after a one-week absence. The Lakers were also No. 10 in the poll of October 14. Mercyhurst won two games against non-conference foe St. Cloud, while last week’s No. 10 team, Northeastern, dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 7 St. Lawrence.

Next weekend, No. 6 Wisconsin will try to do better than one point against No. 2 Minnesota, while the Gophers will be attempting to supplant Minnesota-Duluth at the top of next week’s poll, as the two teams meet for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.

Elsewhere, No. 4 Dartmouth finally gets to work, hosting an ECAC game against Vermont on Friday night before traveling to No. 8 Providence in an early ECAC-Hockey East battle. No. 5 Brown plays its first games of the season as well, hosting two games against CHA member Niagara. Both teams were NCAA Frozen Four participants last season.

The USCHO.com Poll is compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, and consists of 15 voters, including 11 coaches of Division I programs and four women’s hockey writers.

UNH Holds On, Denver and BC Gain Ground In Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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New Hampshire held onto the top spot in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, but with a tie against unranked Northeastern on Friday night, lost its commanding lead over the rest of the pack. The Wildcats garnered 20 of the 40 first-place votes.

The remaining first-place votes were split evenly between the next two teams, No. 2 Denver and No. 3 Boston College, each of which were chosen as the top team by 10 voters this week. Denver, which won two games against Alabama-Hunstville this weekend, received more points overall. Boston College finished in third place after defeating visiting Wisconsin on Friday evening, 4-2, and with a 4-3 victory over Mass.-Lowell on Saturday.

Minnesota, defending national champions, earned a win and a tie against Michigan tech at Houghton, and dropped one spot to No. 4. Rounding out the top five is Michigan, which won a pair of conference games against visiting Alaska-Fairbanks.

Entering the poll this week is No. 13 Ferris State, which improved to 5-1-0 on the season following a weekend sweep of Notre Dame. With the two wins, Ferris State sits atop the CCHA standings with four conference wins.

This weekend will see the first official action of the season for the Ivy League schools in the top 15, as No. 8 Cornell visits Ohio State and No. 15 Harvard travels to Brown. Hockey East has a showdown of powerhouses, as No. 1 New Hampshire hosts No. 7 Boston University on Saturday night.

The USCHO.com Poll is compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, and consists of 40 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 12 beat writers from across the country. The poll is published weekly by the Associated Press.

Norwich On Top Of Logjam In DIII Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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Norwich held onto the top spot in this week’s USCHO.com Division III Men’s Poll, but after that, things got significantly more interesting. Two teams, RIT and St. Norbert, finished tied for the No. 2 slot, while No. 4 Wis.-Superior, the defending national champion, got more first-place votes than either No. 2 winners and finished just a point behind.

Four games this weekend saw the ECAC West and the NCHA trade blows to teams from the other conference, as RIT won its two games of the weekend, downing NCHA-member Wis.-Eau Claire by 9-1 and 11-2 scores. St. Norbert returned the favor to ECAC West-member no. 12 Elmira, sweeping the Soaring Eagles, 6-2 and 8-2. The two winning teams finished knotted at 197 points and finished tied at No. 2 in the rankings.

Wis.-Superior, the other team receiving first-place votes, played just one game this weekend, but voter confidence in the Yellowjackets was shaken as they just managed to eke out a 4-3 win over St. Scholastica, last year’s NCHA cellar-dweller.

Wentworth appears in the poll for the first time this season as the No. 15 team. The Leopards have not played a game this year, but managed to climb into the ranking this week as last week’s No. 12 team, Oswego, dropped a 5-2 decision to Utica and fell out the top 15.

Next weekend conference play gets underway in earnest for four of the eight Division III conferences. Highlights include an early-season showdown in the NCHA as No. 2 St. Norbert visits No. 4 Wis.-Superior on Friday night. We’ll also get a clearer picture on the status of the MIAC, as No. 7 St. Thomas and No. 14 Gustavus Adolphus play a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday.

The USCHO.com Poll is compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, and consists of 15 voters, including coaches and beat writers from across the country.

This Week in the MAAC: Oct. 24, 2002

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Redemption

After I wrote last week’s column, I thought to myself that if there is a God, somehow the teams in the MAAC would go out last weekend and pull off some upsets. After getting drubbed mercilessly a week earlier in nonleague play, I hoped the league would right the ship and prove that they’re in fact taking steps forward rather than backwards when it comes to competition.

Thankfully, that redemption did in fact arrive last weekend. Nonleague bliss for the MAAC will never be a 7-1-2 weekend like Hockey East enjoyed two weeks ago. No, success out of league for the MAAC is displayed in smaller quantities: a tie against a Big Four opponent is major; a win, well that’s simply outstanding.

Last weekend, the MAAC got both, which leads me to a search for an even better word to quantify the accomplishment.

Everything began last Friday night long after most readers were in bed. Playing in the Alaskan time zone (four hours behind me on the East Coast), Iona — the same team that suffered one of the worst nonleague spankings, falling 11-0 to Providence a week earlier — shocked Alaska-Anchorage on enemy ice, battling the Seawolves to a 2-2 tie.

For Iona coach Frank Bretti, it was a gift-wrapped package. Bretti was a longtime assistant at UAA before taking the reins at Iona. So after taking the beating in Providence, not having to see the red light flash in double digits was a godsend.

Just when you think that things couldn’t get better for the MAAC, Saturday night happened. A league that has posted just three wins all time against the Big Four got win number four — and from the unlikeliest of sources. Similar to Iona a night earlier, Connecticut righted the ship that sailed to a 10-1 loss against Northeastern a week earlier to pull off one of the biggest upsets in school history — a 5-4 come-from-behind, overtime win over Colgate.

“For us, we had a bad weekend [two weeks ago],” said UConn head coach Bruce Marshall. “To lose 10-1 was a tough loss. To stay in and have a chance in the third period, then lose a lead, and then regain the lead … you can build on these characteristics.

“After the NU game we spent a lot of time watching the tape. I liked our ability out there but there were just mistakes after mistakes.

“I said to the guys that everything we were doing is correctable. It was a matter if they wanted to commit themselves to correct them.”

The hero du jour for the Huskies was fitting: senior assistant captain Ron D’Angelo. D’Angelo has been with the program through its highs and lows. He was a rookie when the Huskies won the MAAC league championship in 2000. But he was also around for the Northeastern game two weeks ago, as well as the all-time rout — a 13-1 blasting by UMass-Lowell back in November of 1999.

“He’s a guy that always wonders why he can’t be the leading scorer in the MAAC,” said Marshall. “He’s got the ability to score goals and that’s great, but does he work hard enough to get himself into position to score those goals?

“Hopefully this will build some character for him that way.”

The win for UConn is impressive. But it puts Colgate in a class by itself, as the first Big Four school to fall to a MAAC team twice. Colgate was the victim of a 5-2 loss to Mercyhurst last season.

“I was so excited to see [UConn’s victory over Colgate], much like I was excited to see Iona’s tie up in Alaska,” said Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin. “What we’re seeing is the MAAC is getting better and better as a conference.

“I remember how our guys felt when we beat Colgate a year ago. It’s a terrific thing for UConn as a program and it’s terrific as a step for our conference.”

“It makes life easier because you get the positive phone calls from your buddies, instead of the ‘What happened against Northeastern?’ call,” said Marshall. “For the team, it gives us the confidence to go into the league season. We can carry that into a stretch of seven league games.”

Conversely, it’s the fourth loss for the ECAC as a conference to a MAAC school. In addition to Colgate’s two losses, Cornell fell victim to Sacred Heart back in 2000-01 — the first MAAC win versus a Big Four school. And Union lost later that same year to Quinnipiac. No team from Hockey East, the CCHA or the WCHA has ever lost to a MAAC team.

In addition to Iona and UConn’s success, other conference members were holding tough and/or pulling out other wins in nonleague action.

Sacred Heart gave the MAAC some credibility against CHA opponent Bemidji State, pulling off back to back ties (1-1 on Friday and 2-2 on Saturday) on the road. At home, Holy Cross split their weekend series with Air Force, losing 6-4 on Friday before blowing away the Falcons, 7-2, on Saturday.

Mercyhurst joined the “almost” category, dropping tough decisions on the road against Lake Superior State, 3-2 and 3-1, following Quinnipiac’s lead from a week earlier as a MAAC team giving the Lakers a tough time.

“We’re as happy as we can be with our weekend without winning. We played very well on both nights, and Saturday we felt like we should’ve won,” said Gotkin, noting that his team hit the crossbar and four posts that night.

Weekly Awards

The MAAC is back taking over this honor this week. Here’s a rundown of the top players from last week’s action.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Player of the Week: Ron D’Angelo, Connecticut Senior, Massapequa, N.Y.

D’Angelo scored the game-winner 3:38 into the overtime period to lift UConn over Colgate, its first win of the season and first victory over an ECAC school as a Division I program. D’Angelo’s slapshot was taken from in between the faceoff circles to beat the Colgate goalie stick side. He also put UConn ahead 3-2 at the start of the third period during a Connecticut power-play opportunity. His assist of the night came on the game-tying goal in the third period, which sent the game into overtime. D’Angelo leads the Huskies with five points.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Goalie of the Week: Jamie Holden, Quinnipiac Sophomore, Telkwa, B.C.

The sophomore netminder has shown no signs of slowing down from a stellar rookie year. He opened the year by stopping a career-high 47 shots in a win over Holy Cross, then came back to allow just two power-play goals and turn away 30 shots in a 2-1 loss against Lake Superior State. Last week, Holden stopped 31 of 32 shots in a 3-1 win over Bentley on Friday. Through three games, he has posted a sparkling 1.34 goals against average and a .965 save percentage.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Rookie of the Week: Pierre Napert-Frenette, Holy Cross Freshman, Bathurst, N.B.

Napert-Frenette’s first collegiate goal was a memorable one. In the victory over UConn, he scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal 3:27 into the third period. This past week, he also scored two goals in the two-game series against Air Force as well as adding two assists. After his first week on the ice, Napert-Frenette leads the team in points and goals with five and three, respectively.

Let the Games Begin!

With a couple of weeks of exhibition and nonleague action under their belts, some MAAC schools can begin to focus on what matters most: league play.

Though Holy Cross, UConn, and Quinnipiac all have had league games, and last week’s Q-Cup tournament at Quinnipiac was an all-MAAC slate to give us a potential preview, this week’s action is the true beginning of league play.

And what a way to get started as Saturday night’s game between Quinnipiac and Mercyhurst will be the rematch of last year’s championship game and the first battle of two of the MAAC’s heavyweights.

It’s strange to be talking so early in the year about a big game, but since this season could come down to these two clubs with maybe a Sacred Heart or Holy Cross thrown into the mix, brains begin thinking a little more about Saturday’s gravity.

“Our guys are excited to play,” said Gotkin. “Certainly the Quinnipiac-Mercyhurst matchup is always a little special based on the history of the two teams over the last three years. We’ve had some great games with them.”

Still, Gotkin doesn’t want to take Saturday’s game out of context.

“It’s early in the season,” Gotkin said. “One team picking up two points on Saturday night isn’t going to change the positioning or alter the course of either team’s season one way or another.”

Mercyhurst will have to make a go of it, though, without two of its top players. Defenseman Mike Muldoon will remain on the bench for at least three more weeks nursing an injury (he’s yet to see action this year). And stalwart Adam Tackaberry won’t be with the team, having returned home to Ontario for the week for personal reasons.

Black Knights Finally Get Rolling

Five years ago, it wouldn’t be unusual for any team in the country to begin its slate of NCAA games this upcoming weekend. The old ritual was for a school to have its midnight madness on October 1, play an exhibition game around October 15 and then get started in one of the following two weekends.

Ivy League schools still follow that pattern, giving them a bit of a disadvantage in the ECAC (though, judging by Cornell and Harvard’s success last year, they don’t seem to be complaining).

The MAAC has only one such member to get a slow jump on the season: Army. Last weekend, Army opened the season with an exhibition loss to Seneca. And this week, the Black Knights will get a chance to play games that count — a league game versus Holy Cross on Friday before hosting RPI the following night.

With this weekend, all MAAC teams will finally have nonleague experience (though Fairfield, AIC and Bentley played “nonleague” games against MAAC members in the Q-Cup).

Their Cup Runneth Over… Again

As I mentioned last week, I’m opposed to the idea that Quinnipiac invited the three weakest MAAC teams to this year’s Q-Cup tournament. It serves as no surprise that the Bobcats took home the trophy of their annual tournament for the third straight year (and for the second straight year with the same field of teams well below Quinnipiac’s level).

In fact the only year Quinnipiac didn’t win the Q-Cup was 1999. That year, the Bobcats (nee Braves) still didn’t lose a game. But after tying Iona in a wild 7-7 game, Quinnipiac lost the shootout, 3-0.

What did come out of this year’s Q-Cup was the chance to see how Bentley, Fairfield and AIC stack up. Bentley hung tough on Friday night against the “Q,” losing, 3-1, but nearly matching the host Bobcats in shots (Quinnipiac held a 35-32 edge). The game was a penalty-filled contest, with 67 minutes dished out. Each team scored a power-play goal (Quinnipiac had six chances, Bentley eight).

AIC gritted out a tough 4-3 come-from-behind win over Fairfield in the other semifinal. Three unanswered goals in the third period rallied the Yellow Jackets from a 3-1 deficit entering the frame. For the fourth straight meeting, AIC’s Frank Novello stoned the Stags, making 35 saves in the win (last year, Novello single-handedly stole three games from Fairfield with his play in goal). Uncharacteristically, AIC was whistled for 22 minutes in penalties, but killed all five Fairfield power plays.

Sadly for them, the Yellow Jackets couldn’t stand the test of Quinnipiac the following night, getting routed, 9-2, in the title tilt. Bentley, though, proved tough enough for Fairfield in the consolation game, knocking off the Stags, 6-4 to take third place. The win was sparked by a four-goal second period and a 35-save performance for goaltender Simon St. Pierre. It was also the first career win for rookie head coach Ryan Soderquist.

Alex Clark contributed to this report.

This Week in the CCHA: Oct. 24, 2002

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What is this, the NFL?

Last weekend CCHA winners outscored their opponents 69-26. Northern Michigan beat Michigan State 10-4. Ferris State punished Bowling Green 10-1. In their second game, it was Notre Dame 8, Western Michigan 5.

Just what’s going on here? Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin has a theory.

“I think teams are spending more time on [offense],” said Poulin. “People are getting away from the systematic, stifling play we’ve seen for years.”

At this year’s preseason CCHA Media Day, Poulin did predict that college hockey fans would see more goals scored this year, in spite of the excellent goaltending with which the CCHA seems to have been blessed.

“I don’t know if it will maintain,” said Poulin this week. “These things go in cycles, almost as if there are trends.

“Offense doesn’t have to be ten goals, but will be many good scoring chances.”

Poulin said that this trend toward more offense in college hockey has been coming for some time, and that recruiting now plays into it.

“You’re looking at different players for different things now. If a kid can score but needs to develop in other areas, you might be more willing to overlook what he lacks, thinking that he’ll pick that up later.”

Poulin added that there’s an emphasis on special teams that was absent in years past.

“More and more, at every coaching conference I’ve seen, it’s all about scoring, in every situation.”

Although the season is very young, Poulin is clearly attempting to catch the offensive wave; through four games played, Notre Dame has averaged 4.75 goals per game.

While that stat in itself is interesting, even more telling is that it’s only good enough for third in overall scoring in the CCHA in the early going. Through four games, Ferris State has averaged 5.50 goals per game for the top spot, but through six games Miami has averaged 4.83.

Notre Dame’s Rob Globke and Ferris State’s Chris Kunitz each have five goals in four overall games to lead the league.

“But it’s too early,” cautioned the prophetic Poulin, “to tell if this will last even for this season.”

Games Of The Week

Ferris State notched 15 goals against Bowling Green last weekend. Notre Dame found the net a dozen times against Western. This one will be fun.

Ferris State (3-1-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) at Notre Dame (3-0-1, 2-0-0 CCHA)
Friday and Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Joyce Center, South Bend, Ind.

The Irish are enjoying their best start since the 1998-99 season, when Notre Dame bolted at the beginning for a 6-0-0 run.

“We did play pretty well against Western,” said Poulin. “We played better than we did the weekend before.”

Poulin’s Irish were more disciplined, more focused last year than any squad he’d coached, and this season they have experience on their side. “They’re a year older. They’re more mature. We’re really led defensively.”

That may seem like an odd statement from a coach whose teams notched 12 goals in a two-game, home-and-home sweep of WMU last weekend, but it’s true.

Neil Komadoski has a power-play goals and three assists, and is staying out of the box. Evan Nielsen is +6.

Poulin said he expects “very tight and very good games” this weekend against the Bulldogs.

In sweeping Bowling Green last weekend, FSU scored 15 goals, four of which came from Chris Kunitz (4-4-8 in the series). The Bulldogs also bring a hot goaltender to the Joyce Center in Mike Brown, who was named CCHA Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row after nearly shutting down BGSU. Through four games, Brown has a 1.76 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage.

His counterpart for the Irish, Morgan Cey, has a 2.92 GAA and .906 SV% through three games.

These two games will be FSU’s eighth and ninth consecutive matches against Notre Dame in South Bend. Here are a few facts about this pairing:

  • FSU leads this all-time series, 28-12-4
  • FSU leads in South Bend, 14-6-3
  • FSU is 6-3-1 in its last 10 games against Notre Dame
  • Notre Dame took three of four points from FSU last season

    The eight goals Notre Dame scored against WMU in the 8-5 win last weekend were the most registered by an Irish squad since Nov. 20, 1998, when Notre Dame beat WMU 9-5.

    That 8-5 over the Broncos was Dave Poulin’s 100th career win behind the Notre Dame bench. Congrats, coach.

    FSU’s streaky offense netted seven goals in two different games last season.

    Quirky note of the week: When all is said and done, the Irish will have faced opponents nicknamed Bulldogs a total of eight times this season — four against clustermate FSU, two in their opening weekend against Minnesota-Duluth, and twice in January against Yale.

    This note proves two things: 1) the season is young, and b) Notre Dame SID Tim Connor needs a nap.

    Picks: Notre Dame 4-3, FSU 4-3

    Grudge Of The Week

    I don’t like to highlight the same team two weeks in a row, but the Nanooks are playing the Wolverines.

    Alaska-Fairbanks (1-2-1, 0-1-1 CCHA) at Michigan (3-1-0, 0-0-0 CCHA)
    7:35 p.m. Friday, 7:05 p.m. Saturday, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich.

    The Wolverines open their conference play against the Nanooks, after taking two from Merrimack at home last weekend. The Nanooks cruise the lower 48 after a disappointing home opener against Ohio State; OSU beat UAF 6-3 in the first game, and the teams tied 1-1 the second night.

    Michigan leads this series 23-3-0, and is 12-2-0 in Yost against Fairbanks. Last season, the Wolverines embarrassed the Nanooks 7-0 (Jan. 11), but UAF responded the following night with its second-ever win in Ann Arbor (3-1).

    These two were clustermates last season, with Michigan taking the series 3-1-0.

    What to watch in this series:

  • Al Montoya. The 17-year-old rookie Wolverine netminder has posted a .926 SV% through four nonconference games.
  • Jeff Tambellini. The freshman forward has registered at least a point in each of his first four collegiate games. Tambellini is responsible for four of Michigan’s 16 goals this season.
  • Michigan’s penalty kill. The Wolverines are killing them off 95.8% of the time, and have netted a shorthanded goal.
  • Kelly Czuy. The Nanook rookie forward scored two goals in his first collegiate game, including UAF’s only game-winner this season.
  • UAF’s Aaron Voros. When he plays disciplined hockey, he’s one of the best in the league — honest.

    This is the first time in six years that the Wolverines haven’t had to make the trek to Fairbanks. Do you think they’re happy?

    Picks: Michigan 4-3, UAF 3-2

    Voros Watch

    UAF sophomore forward Voros earned three minor penalties for six minutes against OSU last weekend, bringing his season total to five penalties for 10 minutes. Voros picked up an assist in the two-game set.

    I predicted he’d earn four points and no more than 10 minutes in the box last weekend, so he was a surprise all the way around.

    Picks: In Ann Arbor, expect Voros to earn two points and no more than four minutes in the box.

    Reined In

    The Western Michigan Broncos did something unexpected last weekend: they lost in Lawson.

    Last season, WMU was 13-7-2 at home, and three of those losses were the Broncos’ last three home games, including two to OSU in the opening round of the CCHA playoffs.

    Last weekend, Notre Dame took it to WMU, sweeping the Broncos in a home-and-home set — 4-2 in South Bend, and 8-5 in Kalamazoo.

    “[Notre Dame] played well,” said WMU head coach Jim Culhane. “They are the better team right now. They outworked us. If we had worked hard, we would have been more competitive.”

    That’s what disappointed Culhane most about the losses — the Broncos’ work ethic, or lack thereof.

    “Hopefully we learned a valuable lesson on the weekend,” said Culhane. “You can’t expect to have success if you’re not working hard for 60 minutes. We came out flat down there and we came out flat up here. They set the tempo for the games.”

    This weekend, WMU travels to Orono to face the Maine Black Bears, a team from which the Broncos took three points in Lawson Arena last year.

    This year, Culhane quipped that Maine head coach Tim Whitehead “stacked the deck against us.”

    “It’s homecoming weekend out there,” said Culhane. “The game’s been sold out for weeks. It’s an exciting opportunity for us.”

    Culhane, whose Broncos have been successful Defenders of the Realm (12-2-1 against nonconference opponents under Culhane), said that all he’s looking for from his team against Maine is effort.

    “The big thing is that if we’re going to have any success is that we need to work hard for 60 minutes. If we’re not willing to do that, we’re not going to give ourselves a chance to win.

    “Regardless of the score outcome, if we play hard for 60 minutes, then we can work on other things.”

    A disturbing Bronco trend carries over from last season. None of WMU’s top scorers are on the plus side of things.

    Killer Nuts?

    After embarrassing themselves with a 7-2 loss to Minnesota in the Hall of Fame Game Oct. 12, the Buckeyes rebounded in a big way, with three points from clustermate UAF in Fairbanks.

    “We adjusted our systems [after the loss to Minnesota],” said head coach John Markell. “We thought we could be a little more open on the forecheck and we couldn’t.”

    Rookies and veterans played a role in OSU’s 6-3 win and 1-1 tie in Alaska. In the win, Junior Daymen Bencharski had two goals and an assist in the win, while freshman Dan Knapp had the game-winner and the only goal in the tie, earning him CCHA Rookie of the Week honors.

    “We played even better on Saturday,” said Markell, “but just didn’t win. The players weren’t happy with the tie, and that’s something we can take away from those games.”

    This weekend, the Bucks host Clarkson for two, a Friday-Sunday set that allows the visiting team to take in the Penn State-OSU football game Saturday — if they can get tickets.

    (Next weekend the Bucks will host another Sunday hockey game; no one wants to compete for attendance with OSU football.)

    These early nonconference games — two against Clarkson, one each against Colgate and Cornell next weekend — are a luxury that the Bucks haven’t had recently, and allow OSU to work on the essentials before returning to league play.

    But don’t think that Markell and the Buckeyes are taking these games lightly just because the foes aren’t from around these here parts.

    “These are very, very important in the big picture,” said Markell. “We want to win. We are the type of competitor who has to play with emotion; we have to play with a good attitude, and we have to defend our home.”

    What’s Markell looking for this weekend? “Consistency.”

    • This Week in the WCHA Women’s League: Oct. 24, 2002

    By Craig Roberts
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    When people think of rivalries in the WCHA Women’s League, most immediately think of Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth. Winners of every WCHA regular-season and playoff championship, as well as the last three national championships, the Gopher-Bulldog rivalry is big.

    However, this weekend’s matchup between No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth and No. 6 Wisconsin ranks right up there.

    This weekend’s battle be the first time the teams have met in the Kohl Center since they played the first WCHA Women’s League game in history. That series, which saw UMD take 8-1 and 4-2 wins, Oct. 8-9, 1999, started a heated rivalry which may be the fiercest in the league.

    At the end of the Bulldogs’ 4-2 win, a fracas erupted which featured five roughing penalties and two misconducts. The Badgers’ Kerry Weiland set a single-game league record with eight penalties for 24 minutes in the game.

    There was also an uproar when UMD took to the ice Saturday morning for its pregame skate. With the Wisconsin men’s team, which had gotten a late start to its workout, still on the ice when the Bulldogs were supposed to go on, UMD hit the ice in the middle of the Badgers’ practice.

    It was certainly an auspicious way to start their rivalry.

    This weekend’s matchup features a Wisconsin team that ranked second nationally in scoring defense against a Bulldog squad that ranked third in scoring offense last season.

    The Bulldogs added insult to injury later that season when they handed Wisconsin at 14-1 loss in a game which featured 64 penalty minutes.

    Oddly enough, in a series UMD leads 8-4-2, Wisconsin has not won in six games at home, going 0-4-2. Yet, the Badgers own wins in their last three meetings with the Bulldogs, including a 4-1 victory in the WCHA semifinals last season.

    This weekend’s matchup features a Wisconsin team that ranked second nationally in scoring defense against a Bulldog squad that ranked third in scoring offense last season. The proverbial irresistible force against the immovable object.

    What it all boils down to is, in all likelihood, the best matchup of the young season. Not to mention bragging rights along with a leg up in the league standings.

    However things turn out this weekend, the Badgers won’t have time to contemplate this weekend’s series as they have No. 2 Minnesota waiting for them next weekend.

    For women’s hockey this weekend, the Kohl Center will be the place to be.

    INJURY BUG BITING THE HUSKIES

    When St. Cloud State took to the ice for practice on Monday, they were missing six of the 15 skaters who are regulars in the lineup. It didn’t get any easier when two more players collided later in practice and left the ice for the training room.

    Junior captain Kobi Kawamoto, who broke her ankle in an Oct. 6 exhibition game, is out until mid-November. Her absence in the lineup was readily apparent in weekend losses to Minnesota as the Husky defense struggled to move the puck out of the zone.

    Freshman forward Katie Hauge suffered a high ankle sprain in practice early in the season, has yet to play a game this season and is not expected to travel this weekend as St. Cloud takes on Niagara and Mercyhurst.

    In Saturday’s 8-0 loss to the Gophers, the Huskies lost the services of defenseman Leanne Perrin (leg) and senior forward Erin McNamara (concussion). Perrin was being evaluated on Tuesday and both are expected to miss the weekend series.

    The good news on the injury front for St. Cloud State was the return of sophomore forward Melanie Pudsey, who was injured during the team’s Oct. 6 exhibition. She was a last-minute addition to the lineup Friday and scored the Huskies’ lone goal in a 10-1 loss.

    Ironically, she was not listed on the Huskies’ line chart, nor was she listed on the team’s official lineup prior to the game, an omission that was not discovered until after the game ended.

    UNDERCLASSMEN TO BE FEATURED IN COLUMBUS

    Three of the best young players in the WCHA will take to the ice in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend when Minnesota invades the OSU Ice Arena to take on the Buckeyes.

    The Gophers feature freshmen Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell, a pair of U.S. Olympians last year who ranked first and third respectively in league scoring. Darwitz tops the league with 13 points while she and Wendell, along with sophomore teammate Kristy Oonincx, are tied for the league lead with six goals.

    Ohio State features 2002 WCHA Rookie of the Year Jeni Creary, who lead the league with 26 goals last season. She currently leads the league with six power-play points.

    WCHA “HOUSE”HOLD HINTS

    Minnesota State junior goalie Shari Vogt set a school record by stopping 63 shots in the Mavericks 6-1 loss Saturday at UMD … Minnesota opened Ridder Arena with an 8-0 win over St. Cloud State in front of 3,239 fans, the third-largest crowd to attend a women’s collegiate game … The Gophers’ inaugural game, Nov. 2, 1997 at Mariucci Arena, was witnessed by a record 6,854 while Wisconsin’s inaugural game, Oct. 9, 1999, drew a crowd of 3,892 … Junior forward Jerilyn Glenn became the answer to a trivia question when she scored on a rebound at 4:16 of the opening period … WCHA Supervisor of Officials Greg Shepherd worked the game, the first time he has officiated a women’s contest … It also marked the fourth new building in the last decade in which he has officiated the first collegiate game … He also did the first college game at Minnesota’s new Mariucci Arena as well as the Xcel Center in St. Paul, and North Dakota’s new Engelstad Arena … Gopher senior defenseman Winny Brodt and junior forward La Toya Clarke became the eighth and ninth players in school history to top the 100-point mark for their careers … Bemidji State needed a three-goal third period to earn a 3-3 tie with North Dakota at home Sunday in the Sioux’s first NCAA contest … For the third consecutive game Minnesota State got its lone goal from a rookie as Katie Hainrich scored in Friday’s 12-1 loss … Wisconsin is off to a 4-0-0 start for the first time in school history … The Badgers, who opened the season with wins over preseason No. 9 Northeastern, play three of their first four series against ranked teams with No. 1 UMD coming up this weekend and a road trip to No. 2 Minnesota next weekend.

    WCHA AWARDS

    Offensive Player of the Week–Erica Holst, Sr., F, Minnesota-Duluth
    Defensive Player of the Week–Shari Vogt, Jr., G, Minnesota State
    Rookie of the Week–Krissy Wendell, Fr., F, Minnesota

    COMING UP

    St. Cloud State at Niagara (Friday)
    St. Cloud State at Mercyhurst (Saturday-Sunday)

    Niagara won the teams’ only previous meeting, 7-0, Jan. 5, 2000, in St. Cloud … Mercyhurst won 2-1 in overtime and 4-1, Dec. 15-16, 2001, in St. Cloud in the teams’ only previous meeting … Friday’s game is the first of a three-game CHA swing for the Huskies … Husky freshman Brie Anderson made her debut in goal Saturday, stopping 34 shots in an 8-0 loss at Minnesota … Newcomers to the St. Cloud lineup have accounted for four of the team’s six goals and nine of its 16 points through four games … Senior forward Abby Cooper has already accumulated 12 penalty minutes in four games … She’s only registered 22 in each of the last two seasons and 20 as a freshman.

    No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth at No. 6 Wisconsin (Friday-Saturday)

    UMD leads the all-time series 8-4-2 … The Bulldogs are 4-0-2 in Madison … In 14 meetings, the teams have combined to average 27.9 penalty minutes per game … UMD junior forward Jenny Potter has scored a goal in each of the team’s four games this season … She also reached the 100-point mark in her Bulldog career in Saturday’s 6-1, her 36th game at UMD … Potter, who spent the 1998-99 season at Minnesota, has 173 points in 68 collegiate games … Wisconsin has allowed just one even-strength goal in its first four games … During the 2002 calendar year, the Badgers are 19-3-0 … The three losses were all one-goal games … Wisconsin is the WCHA’s only team yet to play a league game this season …Fourteen of the 20 skaters the Badgers have dressed this season have registered points, including all three freshmen, Sharon Cole, Grace Hutchins and Nikki Burish, who each have two points … Seventeen of UMD’s 19 skaters have scored at least one point this season.

    Bemidji State at Minnesota State (Friday-Saturday)

    BSU is 7-5-2 in 14 games against the Mavericks … The Beavers are 7-0-1 the last two seasons versus MSU, including four wins in Mankato … Junior goalie Shari Vogt is facing an average of nearly 43 shots per 60 minutes after her school-record 63-save effort in Saturday’s 6-1 loss at UMD … That number is slightly higher than her career average of 39.2 shots per game … Vogt has faced over 60 shots three times in her career … The Mavericks have gone 0-for-31 on the power play after converting their first opportunity of the season in a 6-1 loss to Ohio State, Oct. 11 … Bemidji State has pulled its goalie for an extra attacker in four of five games this season, including Sunday’s 3-3 tie with North Dakota, in which the Beavers scored with 21 seconds to play in the third period to salvage the tie … Junior goalie Anik Cote appears to have earned the team’s number-one goaltending job for the time being … She has a .943 save percentage despite a 1-2-1 record, earning a decision in four of BSU’s five games this season.

    No. 2 Minnesota at Ohio State (Friday-Saturday)

    Minnesota is 11-3-0 versus the Buckeyes, including a 5-1-0 mark at OSU Arena … Six of the WCHA’s eight top scorers will be featured in this weekend’s series … The Gophers’ 4-0-0 record is its best start in six seasons … Minnesota has scored three shorthanded goals this season compared to just two in each of the last two campaigns … The Gophers have nine players averaging at least one point per game this season … Minnesota sophomore goalie Jody Horak has not allowed a goal in five periods in WCHA games … She has allowed just three goals in four starts … The Buckeyes have killed off 15 straight power plays in league games … OSU is 2-0-0 on the road this season and 0-2-0 at home … Gopher head coach Laura Halldorson and Buckeye head coach Jackie Barto have squared off against each other 20 times, dating back to the 1994-95 season, when both coached in the ECAC: Halldorson at Colby and Barto at Providence.

    This Week in the CHA Women’s League: Oct. 24, 2002

    By Craig Roberts
    -

    With league games few and far between this season, CHA teams have to make the best of the situation.

    Most teams like to have one or two nonconference series under their belts before heading into the conference schedule. Niagara, which opened league play with a home split against Findlay, will play three of its first four games against conference foes, a situation Purple Eagle head coach Margot Page would rather have avoided. She had no choice when her team was left out of the ECAC/Hockey East split.

    Wayne State, which plays its first CHA game Saturday at Niagara, plays only two league games before Christmas and, after a Nov. eight home game with Niagara, the Warriors don’t return to conference action until Jan. 29.

    Mercyhurst plays its first 10 games against nonconference foes and then, after a home-and-home series with Findlay, Nov. 8 and 10, they will play just one CHA game before February.

    Findlay is the only league member that will play at least one CHA contest in each month, from October through February.

    Wins are more meaningful and losses magnified in such a short season. An upset or two can throw the conference standings askew.

    Despite this, the CHA has already shown it may be in for an interesting race. Most observers made Niagara and Mercyhurst the favorites to win the league this season but Findlay opened with a 4-3 win at Niagara before dropping a 5-3 decision the following night.

    The scheduling snafu which sees each team playing only six league games this season, came about due the league’s formation late in the summer after teams had completed their scheduling for 2002-03. In the future, CHA teams will play four games against each conference member.

    Still, the short race now promises to be an interesting one. Wins are more meaningful and losses magnified in such a short season. An upset or two can throw the conference standings askew.

    Stay tuned!

    CHA “HOUSE”HOLD HINTS

    Findlay won the inaugural CHA Women’s game and, in the process, earned its first victory over Niagara, downing the Purple Eagles 3-2 … Oiler seniors Melissa Oliver and Chantelle Russell both played their 100th career game in the victory … Niagara senior forward Jennifer Goulet scored the first goal in league history, putting the Purple Eagles ahead 1-0 at 11:25 of the opening period … Freshman goalie Breanne Doyle earned a victory in her first collegiate appearance, stopping 26 shots in Saturday’s 5-3 win … Niagara seniors Candice Celeen and Amber Maly both played in the 100th career game Friday … Four Laker players played in their 100th career game in Mercyhurst’s losses to St. Lawrence … Seniors C.J. Ireland and Randi Pilger played in game number 100 in Saturday’s 4-1 loss while classmates Jennifer Jeffrey and Elizabeth Betteridge reached the mark in Sunday’s 5-2 loss … Wayne State’s Cheryl Anderson is the younger sister of Minnesota’s Gwen Anderson … The sisters scored goals less than 24 hours apart over the weekend when Cheryl scored in the Warriors’ 2-1 loss to Colgate Friday night and Gwen scored in the Gophers’ 8-0 win over St. Cloud State Saturday afternoon … Combined, the duo has five career goals in 123 games … Cheryl’s goal was the third of her career.

    CHA AWARDS

    Offensive Player of the Week–Heidi Tallqvist, So., F, Findlay
    Defensive Player of the Week–Krissy Langley, So, D, Wayne State
    Rookie of the Week–Breanne Doyle, Fr., G, Niagara

    COMING UP

    St. Cloud State at Niagara (Friday)

    Niagara won the teams’ only previous meeting, 7-0, Jan. 5, 2000, in St. Cloud … The Purple Eagles, after giving up five goals on nine power-play chances to Findlay, killed off three penalties in the third period of Saturday’s win … Friday’s game is the only time this season that Niagara is scheduled to face a WCHA opponent … The Purple Eagles are 4-2-1 all-time against the WCHA.

    Wayne State at Niagara (Saturday)

    Niagara has won all four previous meetings with the Warriors … Seven different players each scored a point as Wayne State split a pair of 2-1 decisions with Colgate … Junior Anna VanderMarliere and sophomore Tina Thibideau split starts against Colgate … VanderMarliere made 25 saves in Friday’s loss while Thibideau had 22 saves in Saturday’s win.

    St. Cloud State at Mercyhurst (Saturday-Sunday)

    Mercyhurst won 2-1 in overtime and 4-1, Dec. 15-16, 2001, in St. Cloud in the teams’ only previous meeting … The Lakers are one of only two teams in the country to have already played six games this season … Senior forward Randi Pilger has scored two goals this season, both of which have been game-winners … The Lakers fell out of the top 10 in this week’s USCHO poll after being swept by No. 7 St. Lawrence.

    Colgate at Findlay (Saturday-Sunday)

    The two teams split a series at Findlay last season, Nov. 23-24, 2001 … The Oilers won game one 2-1 while Colgate took the finale 5-4 … The Oilers were 5-for-12 on the power play last weekend against Niagara … Findlay junior forward Janet Ploncinsky has three goals in four games on the season, all of which have come on the power play … The Oilers have already been assessed three bench minor penalties in their first four games … Colgate is playing its second consecutive series against CHA competition after splitting with Wayne State last weekend … The Raiders will also face Mercyhurst later this season.

    Stampede Result Switched to Tie

    USCHO Staff Report
    -

    The NCAA Ice Hockey Committee has ruled that the Maverick Stampede semifinal game between Colgate and Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 11 is officially a tie and that only the statistics for the first 65 minutes of play will count.

    The game in question was played with a five-minute overtime, followed by a 20-minute period when the game was still tied, which is contrary to NCAA rules.

    UNO advanced with a power play goal by Scotty Turner at 18:45 of the second overtime.

    According to the rules, the only options for breaking ties to determine advancement in an in-season tournament are: 20-minute overtimes to conclusion; or a five-minute overtime followed by shootout (game is recorded as a tie).

    Colgate, originally under the assumption it would receive a tie because the game was deadlocked after the five-minute period, did not file a protest on the decision of a loss. However, the rules committee alerted the hockey committee of the error, and the latter decided, despite the violation of the rules, to uphold what was in the Maverick Stampede tournament manual and change the result to a tie.

    All records for the 20-minute overtime period have been eliminated. (New boxscore)

    Among the statistical changes, Turner’s goal was wiped off the books along with assists to Joe Pereira and David Brisson. UNO goaltender Dan Ellis became the goaltender of record with a tie, having been in the game when Colgate’s Scooter Smith scored the game tying goal in the second period.

    Maverick netminder Brian Haaland, who entered the game at the start of the third period and originally received the win with 11 saves, had his minutes reduced to 25:00 from 43:45 and his save total to seven. UNO had outshot Colgate, 18-4, in the second overtime.

    Colgate goaltender Steve Silverthorn now is credited with 65:00 played, not 83:45, a tie instead of a loss, and 27 saves and five goals allowed instead of 44 saves and six goals allowed.

    Three penalties in the second overtime were similarly wiped off the books along with a UNO power play and goal on that power play.

    This Week in the WCHA: Oct. 24, 2002

    By
    -

    It’s a Family Affair

    In the grand scheme of things, it’s only one game — one nonconference game on a weekend when the WCHA opens its conference schedule, no less.

    But the infrequency with which a father coaches against his sons in college hockey makes Friday’s Wisconsin-Boston College game an attention-grabber.

    Mike Eaves gets that chance against sons Ben and Patrick, and he knows it might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

    “This may never happen again, this type of situation where I’m coaching against both boys,” Eaves said. “The grandparents are coming out. We’re going to have fun with it.”

    This isn’t a situation that comes up often. Minnesota’s Doug Woog coached son Steve Woog, who played at Northern Michigan in the early 1990s. Joe Bertagna, Hockey East commissioner and an encyclopedia of college hockey knowledge, could confirm only one other father-son matchup: Army coach Jack Riley went up against son Rob of Boston College in the mid-to-late 1970s.

    The last time they met, in the 1977-78 season, Rob Riley was BC’s captain. That Ben Eaves is the Eagles’ captain this season makes the connection that much more surreal.

    The Wisconsin coach has a pretty good idea of what to expect from Ben and Patrick on Friday. When asked for a scouting report on his kids, Mike Eaves said some of their best traits are that they have a great understanding of the game and its nuances, and that they’re both pretty competitive.

    Sounds a little like Dad.

    “That’s part of who they are,” Mike Eaves said. “Naturally, their environment is going to affect them a little bit, but I think the competitiveness is a part of who they are. The skill level is a genetic thing from both sides of the family. The understanding of the game may be part of the genetic thing, too — they have the ability to learn, and take what they learn and apply it.”

    And Mom gets left in the middle. Beth Eaves has gotten the OK from her husband to cheer for the boys, but jokingly was reminded to root for the team in red when the boys aren’t on the ice.

    A compromise: Ben and Patrick each get a goal or two, but the Badgers still win.

    “That would be an ideal world,” Mike Eaves said. “But time will tell.”

    Down Times

    Credit the WCHA for still publicizing its nonconference record even after it’s taken a fall.

    Three weeks into the season, the league has won only half of the nonleague games its teams have played. It’s 15-11-4 outside its ranks a season after a sparkling 56-24-2 record.

    There have been tough opponents on the schedule early for WCHA teams, in particular those from Hockey East. But is this an early sign that the league isn’t as strong as it has been in the last two seasons?

    We’ll see in April.

    The Wounded

    St. Cloud State coach Craig Dahl got a call on Tuesday from former Huskies defenseman and NHLer Bret Hedican of the Carolina Hurricanes.

    “I told him, ‘I could use a swift-skating right D for a few weeks,'” Dahl said. “‘Think your club would loan you out?'”

    Sadly for the Huskies, Hedican’s about 10 years removed from having any collegiate eligibility.

    St. Cloud could use an infusion of defensive bodies — preferably the non-injured kind. Because of injuries and ineligibilities, the Huskies were without five of their top six defensemen last weekend.

    Bye weekends early in the season often are unwanted because once teams start up, they’d like to keep going. If ever a bye weekend was welcomed by a hockey team, however, it was last weekend for Dahl and the Huskies.

    “Initially, you don’t like to have a bye week the second week of the season,” Dahl said, “but in our case it turned out to be the perfect week. It allowed us to gain a week of healing on [Jeff] Finger and [Ryan] LaMere and [Matt] Gens. Hopefully that time will give at least two of the three a chance to get in the game.”

    The Huskies’ defensive six against Ferris State two weeks ago contained three freshmen: T.J. McElroy, Greg Tam and Tim Conboy.

    “The silver lining is, those freshmen got a lot of opportunities to play in a lot of different situations,” Dahl said. “Yes, they made mistakes, but it’s a chance to learn right away.”

    Building a Home

    North Dakota was only 7-9-1 at the new Ralph Engelstad Arena last season, something coach Dean Blais foreshadowed early in the year. The Sioux could get away with it because the new building was the focus for the fans.

    Now that the attention is back on the team, it’s time for the Sioux to make REA a tough place for opponents to win.

    They knocked off Manitoba 6-1 in an exhibition game there Tuesday night, but the real deal is Friday, when they start a weekend series with Niagara.

    After this weekend, the Sioux go on the road for two straight weeks. But then, they’ll get a chance to go on a run if they can win at home. Starting Nov. 15, they play 14 straight games at the new Ralph, 10 of them WCHA games.

    That means they’ll be on the road for most of the second half, crystallizing the importance of getting the wins at home early.

    The Emergence?

    To Mike Sertich, lost in the shuffle of a 34-hour round-trip bus ride, scoring 11 goals on the weekend and a successful series against St. Lawrence was one player’s big break.

    Bryan Perez’s six-point weekend showed the Michigan Tech coach the sophomore is ready to make a significant contribution to the Huskies.

    “We need that. We need a kid like him to come to the front,” Sertich said.

    “Just talking to him Saturday night on the way home, I think he realizes what we want him to do now, and how important his fitness level is. He took it upon himself to do that. I think he saw, as a result of that, he was able to do some things that maybe he wasn’t able to do a year ago.”

    Perez had 16 points last season, but had higher expectations from some, considering the good amount of ice time he logged, being an NHL draft pick and having played on a USA Hockey select junior team.

    The Huskies are desperate for a lineup of scorers to produce on a consistent basis, and if Perez can do that, they’re one step closer.

    With its production last weekend, Tech’s offense got in the right frame of mind to start the WCHA schedule against Minnesota this weekend. They may have to score big to stay competitive.

    Brett Engelhardt had two goals in each game as the Huskies beat St. Lawrence 7-1 on Friday and earned a 4-4 tie on Saturday by rallying for the tying goal with 23 seconds left.

    “We scored 11 goals on the weekend. That was probably a month last year,” Sertich said. “We scored a couple shorthanded goals and we didn’t have any last year. “We did a pretty good job defending the power play, which we had trouble with last year.

    “There’s a lot of little things that happened that can boost a team’s confidence. We understand that St. Lawrence isn’t Minnesota, but St. Lawrence isn’t a slouch, either.”

    One-Line Wonders

    Minnesota State-Mankato has to prove it has more than one line of offense to get by this season. While it showed last weekend against Providence that its power play could be effective, not much else materialized for the Mavericks’ offense.

    Three of the Mavs’ four goals in their season-opening weekend were scored while they were up a man. Grant Stephenson and Cole Bassett each had two goals, but they were expected to do the scoring this season.

    The Mavericks will need some depth to emerge as time goes on. A home-and-home series with St. Cloud State this weekend would be a fine time, but this could take some time to develop.

    Four freshman forwards played for Mankato last weekend, and it’s likely that’ll continue as coach Troy Jutting looks for a lineup that’ll consistently produce goals.

    But with a November schedule that includes series against Minnesota, North Dakota and another with St. Cloud State, they have to be careful not to let this season get away from them early.

    Saturday Morning Workout

    A pair of WCHA coaches used last Saturday’s morning skate to send a message.

    Alaska-Anchorage coach John Hill reportedly put his players through a tough half-hour workout in a session that is usually a casual skatearound. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the motivation for such a move: The Seawolves had a lackluster performance in a 2-2 tie with Iona last Friday in the Nye Frontier Classic.

    Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Eaves took three upperclassmen out of his lineup for the second game of a series against Alabama-Huntsville. Junior John Eichelberger and seniors Mark Jackson and Brian Fahey also spent an extra hour Saturday morning working with the coaching staff.

    Eaves has shown he’s a stickler for players doing what’s expected of them in practice and in games, and this may have been a way to tell the team no one’s lineup spot is safe.

    “It is a message to everybody,” Eaves said. “I think it shows what our philosophy is going to be and the fact that the people that are playing well and are playing the way we need them to play are going to be in the lineup. It’s a hard lesson for the older guys because in many cases it’s hard for them to make changes because they have ingrained habits. But it’s a healthy thing to do, and in the long run it’s going to serve us.”

    Wearing the “C” Well

    The reaction to being named captain can go any number of ways on the ice. Colorado College senior defenseman Tom Preissing seems to be handling it well.

    Preissing followed up his hat trick performance of opening night with three more goals last weekend. Through four games, he has equalled his career high in goals for a season, set in each of the last two seasons.

    Of his six goals, five have come on the power play, where he has emerged as a big threat largely because of the confidence he’s displaying.

    Whether that’s an effect of having the “C” on his uniform or not, it’s showing CC coach Scott Owens that Preissing is maturing well.

    “He just seems to be shooting the puck with so much more confidence this year,” Owens said. “Maybe being a year older or being a senior or being the captain, I’m not sure. … He’s just got a lot of confidence in that right now, and he seems to be getting it at the right time.”

    That’s something the Tigers could use more of, so to have their captain leading the charge could do wonders for the younger players. They didn’t allow a goal last weekend, suggesting Preissing also is doing a fair job in organizing the defense.

    “Everyone deals with [the captaincy] differently, and I think he’s dealt with it real well,” Owens said. “It’s something we’ve desperately needed here, being so young.”

    On The Shelf

  • At Denver, forward Jon Foster and defenseman Brett Skinner are nursing knee sprains suffered last Friday at Boston College. Both missed last Saturday’s game at Northeastern and are out for this weekend’s nonconference series with Alabama-Huntsville.
  • At Colorado College, freshman forward Joey Crabb could be back in one to two weeks after suffering a first-degree shoulder separation last Saturday. He’s already been ruled out for this weekend.
  • At St. Cloud State, three defensemen are hurting. Injuries to juniors Jeff Finger (hand) and Ryan LaMere (shoulder) and sophomore Matt Gens (abdomen) have the Huskies reeling on the blue line. With perhaps only five healthy defensemen, it’s likely someone will have to play injured. Finger and LaMere may be able to play this weekend against Minnesota State.

    Also, SCSU forward Jonathan Lehun has joined practice after missing the first month with a stress fracture in a leg.

  • At Wisconsin, the hits keep coming for Dan Boeser. He battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma over the summer to be ready for the season, and three games in, he suffered a broken hand. Boeser, who hadn’t missed a Badgers game in his two seasons in Madison entering this fall, may be out up to a month.
  • At Minnesota, the surgery on ligament damage in Grant Potulny’s left leg was called successful. The Gophers captain is expected to miss three to four months, much longer than the six weeks estimated when the injury was only a broken leg. The damage was discovered last week, and Potulny underwent surgery last Thursday.

    In Other Words

    Sophomore defenseman Clay Wilson scored the first goal in Michigan Tech’s 7-1 win over St. Lawrence last Friday. … The average game time for WCHA teams has been 2 hours, 11 minutes, the league announced. That’s down about 10 minutes from last season, thanks largely to the fast faceoffs. … Tickets for the March 1 Michigan Tech-Wisconsin game in Green Bay, Wis., sold out in a matter of hours when they were opened to the general public. … Having sat out a year and two games for playing in Canadian Tier I games, [nl]Colby Genoway is now available to play for North Dakota. … Curtis McElhinney will start in goal Friday night for Colorado College at UMD. Who’ll start Saturday night is up in the air. … CC senior goalie Gian Baldrica made his first collegiate start last Saturday against Iona and made it memorable: 13 saves for a shutout. He has never allowed a goal in three appearances at CC.

    • This Week in Hockey East: Oct. 24, 2002

    By
    -

    The Last Shall Be First

    After his team’s 5-3 upset of Boston University on Tuesday, Merrimack coach Chris Serino was playfully informed that the Warriors were on pace to go undefeated in Hockey East.

    “We probably will,” he deadpanned.

    After losing a multitude of players from last year’s squad, Merrimack was picked by unanimous acclaim in the coaches’ preseason poll to finish last. (Coaches could not vote for their own team.) Although this writer saw the team finishing eighth ahead of Massachusetts, it still looked like there would be a very healthy gap between the number seven team and number eight. Any of the top seven had a decent shot at home ice in the playoffs, but after that…

    The Warriors were simply too young, it seemed. There was only a sliver of experience on the blue line. Depth up front was a major concern. And if you combined that youth with an opening league schedule of BU, New Hampshire, Boston College, BU, and then Providence three times in a row, it looked like a recipe for disaster, discouragement and the depths of Hockey East.

    After all, those seven games are against teams currently ranked in the top 11 in the country. Can you say 0-for-7 and pass the aspirin?

    Instead, the Warriors look like a quick team with more talent than advertised and the kind of spunk and chemistry that could get them through the inevitable tough times. They’ll still be underdogs in those games, but underestimate them at your own risk, especially in their barn.

    “It’s a tough stretch for us,” says Serino. “I hope we play well. [The win over BU] is one game. If I see it two or three games in a row, then I’ll be real happy. It’s a nice thing to see that they’re starting to mature and hopefully they’ll keep maturing.

    “The thing I was most pleased with [on Tuesday] was when we had a lead at the end of the game and [BU] pulled their goalie, we kept our composure. We weren’t rattled, just throwing the puck around. We played with poise. That’s what I’m real proud of with a young team like we have.”

    With Merrimack off this weekend, the stakes were even higher in the BU contest.

    “Beating BU is big for our program, obviously, but beating anybody before a 10-day layoff is big for your team,” says Serino. “To have a young team come in and play well against a nationally ranked team and win a game is going to give them a lot of confidence. In order for us to even get into the playoffs in Hockey East, [we’ve] got to beat somebody we’re not supposed to beat.”

    And the Next To Last…

    The other consensus last-or-next-to-last team, UMass, had a win that was almost as impressive. Although the opponent wasn’t nationally ranked nor did the win over Rensselaer count in the Hockey East standings, it was every bit as welcome. After taking it on the chin to BC, 6-0, the Minutemen rebounded to a 4-3 win over the Engineers. More importantly, it didn’t merely come as a result of a goaltender stealing a win; UMass outshot its guests, 41-12.

    More mature programs might enjoy those kind of shot advantages, but rarely do they occur for those in the building stages, especially with a squad of only five juniors and seniors combined.

    “That first game was a real difficult challenge for us,” says UMass coach Don Cahoon. “BC, as everyone expected, is a terrific team. As well as BC played, we also contributed to that lopsided score by self-destructing a little bit. Hopefully, we’ve gotten away from that and are moving towards playing a more consistent style of game and being a little more thorough in our execution.

    “We were a little more organized [against RPI] and as a result of that got a lot of chances and played a little bit tighter defensively. That’s clear from the shot ratio.

    “At the same time, we’re very young. We make the glaring error every now and then. That’s something we’ve got to work to correct and bit a little more consistent in our play. I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve made. Hopefully, that will bode well in our growth and development.”

    The Other Seven

    In another testament to the league’s depth, Hockey East’s other seven teams all received votes in USCHO.com poll. Massachusetts-Lowell almost made it six teams in the Top 15, but had to settle for being the team below the bar with the most points. The other five teams all rank amongst the top 11 in the country.

    Anyone remember the last time a league had all but two of its members garnering votes in the national rankings?

    A House Divided

    Friday’s BC-Wisconsin tilt promises to have a little extra spice. Ben Eaves, one of the league’s top players last year, has been joined on the Eagles’ top line by his brother Patrick, who has merely won the Hockey East Rookie of the Week award for the past three weeks. Combined with Tony Voce, the trio is one of the most dangerous in the country.

    As might befit a freshman, Patrick Eaves is quick to deflect credit.

    “They’re both really good players,” he says. “I’m lucky just to be on their line.”

    Brother Ben is enjoying every minute of it.

    “It’s been a real good start for us,” he says. “It’s been a lot of fun, just having the chance to skate together because we’ve played together ever since we were little kids, always trying new moves out and working on new stuff. It’s fun seeing him have a lot of success and I’m happy to be part of that.”

    What will be special on Friday is that the man behind the opposing bench will be their father, Mike Eaves, who is in his inaugural season with the Badgers.

    “It’ll be a fun night,” says Ben Eaves. “We have a lot of family and relatives flying in for the game. It’ll be fun to get all the Eaves in one building for one night. It’ll be a great time.”

    How strange will it be trying to beat your Dad?

    “We’re not going to do anything different,” says Patrick Eaves. “We’re just going to take care of business and go have dinner afterwards.”

    And be able to gloat about a win?

    “Hopefully,” he says.

    With a grin, Ben Eaves adds, “Hopefully, we’ll give it to him pretty good. We’ll all be able to go out afterwards and laugh about it and have a good time.

    “I’m just really excited for the situation he’s gotten for himself there and for my Mom. It’s going to be a great night.”

    Ripping the Zebras

    By now, seemingly everyone with USCHO.com in their browser’s list of favorites knows that Merrimack coach Chris Serino called the referee in last weekend’s series at Michigan “incompetent.” According to an article in the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle Tribune by Kevin Conway, a frequent USCHO contributor, Serino also said that Berenson apologized to him after the game for the officiating during the weekend series.

    By all accounts — and this writer has heard several of them outside of the Merrimack coaching staff — referee John Murphy was off-the-charts atrocious. It seems likely that Serino was justified in his feelings about his team being given no chance to win because of the officiating.

    For a coach to say that publicly, however, is a no-no and Serino was reprimanded by Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna.

    Why can’t a coach speak his mind, especially when he might be justifiably incensed?

    “It’s pretty much universally accepted that you don’t use the media as a forum to criticize officials,” says Bertagna. “The officials really don’t have the same opportunity on their own and are encouraged by the leagues not to comment unless there are rules changes or something new. So if a coach uses the media, it’s really a one-sided opportunity.

    “We’ve had situations in the past where not only did a coach criticize an official for a specific play that he may have thought cost [his team] the game, but when he saw the replay he saw that he was wrong. I’ve had coaches call me and say, ‘I shouldn’t have said it and you know what? He made the right call.’ The correction never gets into the paper.

    “I don’t know any league or any level that condones that. That’s not to say that sometimes officials aren’t guilty of having a bad night or two, but there are other ways to do it. You go through the league office or through the supervisor [of officials] and that sort of thing. Coach Serino himself [signed and] turned in the [coaches’] code of conduct, which has that as a major part of it.”

    As Bertagna is also quick to point out, Serino has done all the right things in the aftermath.

    “I shouldn’t have made a comment in the newspaper about the officiating,” says Serino. “I called the commissioner of the CCHA and apologized to him. He said he had a report on the game. I felt he was well in tune with the way I felt about the game. He was very good.

    “But under any circumstances, I shouldn’t make a comment about an official in the newspaper. That’s what the commissioner of Hockey East told me and he’s right.”

    When Brent Gough even came near the topic of officiating in the press conference after Tuesday’s win over BU, Serino quickly interrupted and said, “Don’t say a word about the referees!” He even added his favorite adjective for emphasis.

    Which is not to say that Serino has lost his sense of humor. When it came his turn to speak after the big win, he paused before opening his remarks.

    “The refereeing was awful!” he said.

    After the laughter died down, he added what everyone knew all along, “I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.”

    What About BU?

    The Terriers, picked to finish first in Hockey East, came away with only one-of-four points in games against Vermont and Merrimack that most observers expected them to win easily. The reasons differed from Friday to Tuesday.

    “The tell-tale sign here,” said coach Jack Parker after the 1-1 tie with Vermont, “is we had 86 attempted shots: 43 on target; 26 off target, and the goalie played terrific, and he made some great saves. So I was pleased with our effort … not pleased with the outcome.

    “But we have to give Vermont a lot of credit after what happened to them last weekend [losing to UNH, 10-0, at home] to come back and play as well as they did. Obviously they got great goaltending this night, and I guess they didn’t get it the last time. They came determined, and they played hard.

    “[The 10-0 loss] was a big factor for them in a positive way and a big factor for us in a negative way. I tried to tell them the last few days in practice that this team did not get beat ten-nothing like you would think. They got outshot by about three shots against UNH. They just didn’t get much goaltending from two freshman goalies. The number one goalie played against us, and he played very well. You’ve got to give [UVM coach] Mike Gilligan and his staff a lot of credit to lose like that at home and then come here and play as hard as they did.

    “But I like how hard our guys played. But you don’t add up the yardage, you just add up the score. And unfortunately the yardage didn’t help us tonight.”

    After the 5-3 loss to Merrimack, however, Parker didn’t even like the yardage.

    “Give Merrimack credit,” he said. “They outplayed us. This wasn’t a game where we outplayed them and we let something slip away. They outplayed us. They could have had six or seven more goals, I thought.

    “It was a total lack of effort on our part from just about everybody. I thought Freddy Meyer and [Ryan] Whitney had good games for us. I thought John Sabo had a good game. You couldn’t find another player in red who played anywhere near to his capabilities or was mentally ready to play.”

    When asked why that was, Parker could only respond, “I have no idea.”

    Email Woes

    My apologies to those to whom I’ve been slow to respond to. I now have a limited window of time during which I have access to my personal email account and when crunch time hits, I get backed up. I’ll respond sooner or later, but please be patient. The only change is that I’ve stopped notifying those who didn’t win the trivia contest since no one really gets much out of that exchange.

    Please continue to write, even those BU fans who were unhappy with my doubts about their team’s number one projection and let me know it. (Come to think of it, they’ve been strangely silent in the past week….) I always welcome messages from old and new friends.

    I’m just not as quick as I used to be. Which, unfortunately, can be said in other contexts….

    Trivia Contest

    Last week’s question concerned New Hampshire’s walloping of Vermont, 10-0. It noted that over the past 10 years, the Wildcats have put the exact same hurting on two other teams and asked which teams and what season(s).

    The answers were Boston College in 1994-95 and UMass one year later. Picking up where he left off last year was Todd Cioffi, whose cheer is:

    “Go FSNE-BU Schedule makers! Thursday nights are better than Sunday afternoons! Plus, we can see more games live!”

    This week’s question similarly recognizes Providence’s 11-0 whitewashing of Iona and asks what year the Friars last matched that score and who was the opponent? Email Dave Hendrickson’s trivia account with your guesses. The winner will be notified by Monday; if you haven’t heard by then you either had the wrong answer or someone else beat you to it.

    And Finally, Not That It Has Anything To Do With Anything, But…

  • I haven’t been able to catch any of the World Series to date, but I loved reading about the sign one Angels fan displayed. Mindful of Mo Vaughn’s slam that there “ain’t no flags flying in Edison Field,” the fan wrote, “Hi, Mo, is that couch comfy?”
  • Whoever invented the idea of clam chowder in a bread bowl deserves the Nobel Prize.
  • Ya gotta love Tom Petty’s “The Last DJ” even if all the airplay it’s getting seems to argue against his message.
  • And thanks to Peter Gammons for clueing me in on Kay Hanley’s “Cherry Marmalade” CD. I’d never paid much attention to Letters to Cleo, her former group, but for my money the “Satellite” and “Sheltering Sky” cuts are worth the price of the CD all by themselves. Of course, your mileage may vary.
  • The recent Springsteen concert at the FleetCenter was awesome. I love the new CD, but since many of the songs are thoughtful, artistic reflections on September 11 — as opposed to concert-oriented rockers — I wondered if the Boss could pull it off. But he did, even while playing almost every song off the new CD. Sure, he couldn’t get to every single oldie even with a set that lasted almost three hours, but he did most of them and the night rocked.
  • And having Peter Wolf (J. Geils Band) come out to join the Boss for the finale in a rendition of “(Love that) Dirty Water” was a stroke of genius. It was drop-dead hilarious that when it got to the line of “muggers and thieves” the big screens switched to Steve Van Zandt of the E Street Band, better known as Silvio on the Sopranos.

    Thanks to Scott Weighart for his contribution.

    • This Week in the CHA: Oct. 24, 2002

    By Geof F. Morris
    -

    The Battle for Respect

    As CHA schools scramble for this year’s initial NCAA tournament automatic bid, fans of college hockey know that the derisive statements are just a few losses away. “They don’t deserve an automatic bid,” they’ll say. “These guys aren’t any good. [Insert Big Four school] should have gotten that spot.”

    Of course, growth for college hockey is a good thing, and sensible fans know this. Last weekend, Alabama-Huntsville freshman Bruce Mulherin was asked why he came all the way south to attend classes and play hockey.

    “The automatic bid was a big reason,” Mulherin said. “I wanted the opportunity to play for a national championship, and coming to a CHA school gives me that opportunity right away.”

    Music to the ears.

    These are the sounds that CHA fans need to hear. The story is undoubtedly repeated at the other five member schools. Everyone from Bob Peters on down knew what an effect this would have on the league.

    But still, if the losses keep on mounting, it’s going to be hard to gain the respect of anyone outside of the CHA. The conference can’t continue to go winless against Big Four teams for long and not begin to hear the derisive sounds.

    Struggling … Against the MAAC?

    Even worse than those derisive sounds has to be tying a MAAC team. Kissing a MAAC sister? Perish the thought. Yet, that’s exactly what Bemidji State did when they tied Sacred Heart last weekend … twice.

    Bemidji coach Tom Serratore said, “I want to give them a lot of credit. They’ve got 14 upperclassmen on their roster, and they’re a really good team.”

    But still … this is a MAAC team. Bemidji was 9-0-0 against the MAAC all-time coming into the season.

    “They would do well in our league,” said Serratore. “The top teams in the MAAC — a Sacred Heart, a Quinnipiac, a Mercyhurst — they’d do just fine in the CHA. Depth is what hurts them in the long run, but they’re good clubs.”

    But … the MAAC?

    “They played good defense. It was smart on their part [to go into a shell]. They had three or four guys in front of the net. We left our offense at home last weekend, and then we faced a darn good team. Both teams had good goaltending.”

    How good?

    “That was the best [Grady Hunt] has ever played, that Friday night game. Unfortunately, he hurt his groin and is going to be out for the next little while. But we’ll do with Dannie [Morgan] and see how it goes from here.”

    Injuries seem to be mounting for the Beavers. Junior forward Travis Barnes hurt his left knee in a knee-on-knee collision last Friday.

    “He had the MRI [Thursday] morning,” Serratore said. “It doesn’t look good. The preliminary diagnosis is that he tore his ACL and will miss something like four months. That’s pretty much the season.”

    The injuries to Barnes and Hunt follow a broken thumb suffered by Kurt Knott during a preseason practice.

    A rash of injuries is familiar in the CHA. Alabama-Huntsville had a bad run of injuries last year.

    “We haven’t really thought about a medical redshirt for Travis yet. We’re still absorbing all of this now. I watched the replay on Tuesday, and it made me sick. It was so gross. I just couldn’t watch.”

    Best wishes to Barnes as he recovers from whatever injury he has, and all CHA fans can hope that Bemidji doesn’t have a run like the Chargers did last year.

    “These things happen,” Serratore said, “but you never like to see it, especially when it’s your program.”

    Struggles Against the WCHA

    Anyone who looked on the schedule and saw what Alabama-Huntsville had signed up for had to have one question in their mind, “Have these guys lost their mind?” Maybe, maybe not, but now that they’ve signed up for it, they’ve got to play it. This week, the Chargers face the No. 2 team in the country, Denver.

    “We’re going to give them a game,” said Charger coach Doug Ross.

    The Chargers certainly gave Wisconsin a run for their money last weekend. Many observers, including Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, thought it could have gone either way, especially on Friday night.

    “Their early chances not going in hurt them,” Eaves said. “If they score, who knows what the game’s like?”

    But instead of the sweet sound of maybe 30 fans cheering a Charger goal, it was the “CLANG!” of puck hitting metal.

    “It was frustrating,” Charger assistant Lance West said. “Karlis [Zirnis] had a couple that didn’t go in. If those go in, who knows? Our guys played well, though, and they know it.”

    The Chargers will have to score this weekend, though, if they hope to take on the Pioneers.

    Struggling to Get a Big Win

    The Purple Eagles of Niagara have been so close and yet so far away.

    “We haven’t had a bad game yet,” said Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “At times, we played Michigan straight up, and for much of the game, I felt like we outplayed Union and [Lowell]. Of course, the won-loss record doesn’t show it, but we’ve had a good year so far.”

    One thing that’s given the Eagles new life is young blood on defense.

    “We have seven defensemen, and three of them are freshmen, so we know that two of them will dress every night,” said Burkholder. “Andrew Lackner and Brian Mills are junior-tested and aren’t over their heads.”

    They’re also spending a lot of time in front of freshman goalie Jeff VanNyatten.

    “Jeff’s playing really well for us. He’s got two big junior campaigns up in Ontario, and his team went to the playoffs both times. He knows what pressure is.”

    The Niagara offense is coming from two players.

    “It’s amazing to me that we’re six games into the year and only have two players with more than two goals. But Matt Ryan’s got five and Joe Tallari’s got six, and they’re really driving our offense now. We’re hoping that some other guys step up.”

    Two guys that Burkholder wants to see move up are Chris Sebastian and Bernie Sigrist.

    “Our two big seniors just haven’t broken out yet. We need Chris and Bernie to be scoring more, and I’m hoping that they get it going soon,” Burkholder said.

    Burkholder could use that offense this weekend, as his team travels to No. 7 North Dakota.

    No Offensive Struggles in Ohio

    The Findlay Oilers sure aren’t struggling offensively. What is Craig Barnett feeding these guys?

    “We just fed them a new season, is all,” Barnett said.

    The Oilers coaching staff was a little concerned after Friday’s 3-1 win over Canisius.

    “[Assistant] coach [Pat] Ford said to me after the game, ‘An ugly win is better than a pretty loss.’ And he’s right, because Friday’s game was just an ugly win for us.”

    Saturday’s game was pretty, oh so pretty.

    “Saturday we just outworked them,” Barnett said. “We came out and just made the most of our offensive opportunities.”

    The Findlay offensive outburst is coming from surprising spots.

    “Kris Wiebe is a hard-working kid, just like Mike Funk down at Huntsville,” said Barnett. “He’s gotten his opportunities and capitalized on them.”

    Wiebe certainly did, scoring three goals and dished out an assist against the Golden Griffins, after scoring just 14 points last season. He’s joined atop the leaderboard by junior Nick Udovicic, who has five assists after only 19 points last year, and senior Jason Maxwell, who has a goal and three assists after having never scored more than 16 points in any of his three seasons.

    Barnett hopes to take that offensive firepower up the road to Bowling Green this weekend.

    “We’re just 22 miles apart, but we’ve never played each other in NCAA play before. I remember that just eight years ago, we took our club team up there to play theirs. Who would have thought then that we’d now be playing them on the varsity level.”

    It’s not just offense with the Oilers.

    “Jamie VandeSpyker is playing really well for us right now. Mentally, he’s in the zone. We’re going to keep riding Jamie, and if he has a rough time, we’ve always got Kevin Fines ready to go.”

    VandeSpyker and Barnett may make me eat all my words yet.

    “We’re going to give it our all for sixty minutes,” said Barnett, “and see what the scoreboard says at the end of the night.”

    Everyone in Action

    Finally … the first full slate of CHA play. It’s the last weekend in October, and CHA fans around the country can settle into arenas near and wide and see their teams play. Wayne State hosts St. Lawrence, the alma mater of Warriors coach Bill Wilkinson, and takes its NCAA-best 12-game active winning streak into the weekend. Bemidji hosts Union for a two-game set, and Air Force plays host to MAAC foe Bentley.

    If your team isn’t at home, and you can get to a TV connected to a satellite dish, Alabama-Huntsville’s game against Denver will be broadcast on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. The broadcast starts at 9:30 ET. Niagara travels to North Dakota, and Findlay travels to Bowling Green.

    All in all, that’s two series against the ECAC and one each against the CCHA, MAAC, and WCHA. Here’s hoping that the conference represents itself well this weekend and keeps those naysayers at bay.

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